The Amazing Spider-Man 3
by AmacLucky13
Summary: A monster is born. A hero is tested. A mysterious past is revealed. Peter faces a new enemy more vicious, ruthless, devious, and cunning. Everything becomes clear after he discovers his enemy's ties to his parents and his nightmare begins. What happens if the people he cares for most are in danger? What happens if he can't save them? What happens if they pay the ultimate price?
1. Chapter 1

**Recap:****_ The Amazing Spider-Man: _****The day Peter Parker found his father's briefcase it changed his entire life. Inside he found a formula that led him to Oscorp where he found these strange mutant spiders. One of which bit him transforming his DNA giving him superhuman spider powers. Peter had difficult times ahead of him losing his uncle and trying to figure out what the formula his father had left meant. He quickly learnt having these powers gave him a great responsibility he shouldn't take lightly. Peter hunted for his uncle's killer but in the process found he had a bigger calling helping people with these powers instead of using them for revenge especially after one particular dinner with the Stacy family after being asked over for dinner by the girl of his dreams: Gwen Stacy. She became his biggest confidant, the one person he could confide everything to, and she helped him stop his awful creation. Peter gave the formula his father left behind for him to Dr. Curtis Connors. **

**Once Connors got ahold of the formula things went wrong when his boss breathing down his neck for results. So, without waiting for a proper testing period he used the early developed formula on himself transforming into the Lizard who wanted to turn everyone like him. He wanted to create a world without weakness something he thought he was doing by using a machine to disperse the toxin across the city. Peter, the police, and Gwen all came against him to stop him. Gwen's father tried to stand against him but failed only managing to give Peter enough to switch the toxin with the antidote Gwen created for him and all lizards like him. Once the Lizard was destroyed Peter ran to Captain Stacy's side only to watch him slip away. Before he passed away Captain Stacy had only a few things to say. He wanted to say that he was wrong about Peter, that the city needed him, and that he wanted Peter to leave Gwen out of it because the people closet to Peter would get hurt if anyone found out who Spider-Man was. ****So, Peter tried to stay away from Gwen, he missed her father's funeral because of it. When she asked him about it she realized her father must have had a hand in sending Peter away from her. **

**Recap: _The Amazing Spider-Man 2: _Afterwards Peter had said that making promises you couldn't keep were the best kind he returned to Gwen's side to be with her leaving her fate in her own hands. Gwen choose to be by Peter's side no matter what kind of danger was brought upon her because of it. She wanted to be with him and it was wrong to deny those feelings. Peter continued to save the city as he and Gwen grew ever closer. An accident occurred giving a man named Maxwell Dillon power over electricity. Gwen found out at Oscorp he was causing power surges all over New York not that anyone knew that, instead Oscorp was looking into figuring out how to stop them. **

**Electro as he dubbed himself used his powers to attack the Stacy family in retaliation against the late Captain George Stacy. Spider-Man stopped him at every turn, saving Simon at school, Gwen at Oscorp, and finally the city at a power plant. Peter used a plan concocted by both himself and Gwen to stop Electro from finally destroying them all. But it wasn't everything Peter and Gwen struggled through. Peter found out after Gwen ran a few tests on his DNA that his father tailored his spider formula to Peter's DNA making sure that his powers were no accident. These gifts, these powers, and all the incredible things he can do were because his father planned for it. The only question Peter didn't have an answer for was why? Why did his father make a formula tailored to his DNA that was supposed to be for curing and regrowing limbs? **

**Summary: _The Amazing Spider-Man 3:_ Graduation and summer have come and passed. Now Peter still has those same questions, he's struggling to answer them. He's dealing with work, Spider-Man, his aunt, his apartment now, and most importantly his girlfriend. Things take an unexpected turn when a new enemy comes to the city threatening to tear Peter's world apart at the very seams. This villain will stop at nothing to see his plans through just as he has before. Peter discovers this villain's link to his parents and what that means for him. The worst of it all is his nightmares are only beginning. What happens when the people he cares for most are in danger? When their lives are threatened? What happens if he can't save them? And what happens if they pay the ultimate price? **

**Guess you'll just have to read and find out. **

* * *

One

Peter Parker woke up not to his alarm clock, not to his aunt, not to his beautiful girlfriend, but to the sun shining too brightly through the window with no curtain to keep the bright light out. He really needed to get on that. The window needed a curtain and several other things in the small old apartment. At the beginning of August Peter moved out of his Aunt's house into a small rundown neighborhood in New York and into a small rundown apartment building in it. It wasn't much of an apartment but it belonged to him and that was enough. He had enough privacy through his window which was now letting all the morning sunlight in to come and go as he pleased through his own fire escape. Which was good considering the fact that in his spare time he put on bright red and blue spandex and went out to help the police and the city in any way he could. Most people would recognize him as Spider-Man.

It was important that no one knew where Spider-Man laid his head down at night or who he spent most of his free time when he wasn't out protecting the city with because they would be in a lot of danger. And he also had a feeling that a certain late police captain would come back to haunt him should anything happen to said person. Just thinking about what happened almost a year ago now was enough to make him shudder. He remembered watching the life go out of his girlfriend's father's eyes knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it or save him. In the end the captain had asked for one thing and one thing only: to stay away from Gwen. Peter didn't think it was because the Captain didn't like him or thought he wasn't good enough for his daughter anymore or that he needed some kind of mental examination but because the life he was choosing to lead would put Gwen in harm's way. More than anyone should ever be. Peter had agreed wanting to give a dying man his last wish and peace of mind as he went to the next life but afterward Peter realized how much the captain had been asking him to give up.

Peter quickly realized how much pain he was going to put both himself and Gwen through. Gwen more than himself in a way because she hadn't just lost a father, she lost both of them in one swift move, they were just gone. He saw the sadness lurking in her eyes all the time. Even when she tried so hard to make everything seem normal to her and her family, it wasn't. Something they had all revolved around was gone. A part of them was gone. He had seen the pain in her eyes at the funeral that day when she took a look up into the sky for the one person she thought she could count on, the one person who could take away some of the pain, and the utter disappointment when she didn't find him watching over her because he had chosen to hide like coward. He hadn't know what to say to her. He hadn't figured out how to explain he could never see her again because it was for her protection. Because every single time he said it to himself it sounded like a pathetic and lame excuse for something else. Peter hadn't been concerned for her safety before when he told her or when he asked her to run to Oscorp to make an antidote, he just trusted her.

Peter rolled his eyes thinking he was an idiot for considering that for one moment she would ever believe what he was saying when he told her he couldn't be with her anymore was actually coming from him. He should've known that she would see through him and see it was her father saying it. Peter also should never have even bothered with trying to break it off with her. It caused both of them completely unnecessary pain and suffering on top of what they were already going through. Peter should have known he would never be able to last in staying away from her. Not now. Not once he knew what it felt like to hold her close, what it felt like to kiss her, and what it was like being with her. Peter had a taste. Before when he could just watch from afar it wasn't so bad because he didn't know what any of that was like. All he could do was wonder but now he didn't have to wonder. He knew. That was far too much. Whenever he was hurt he wanted to knock on her window but he knew he couldn't. He had to stay away. He wanted her to patch him up and call him Bugboy. He had to stay away. It killed him to be so close to her all the time in school and know where she lived, be able to see her through the window if he swung by just right each night just to assure himself she was still breathing even if he had seen her only hours before. It wasn't enough. It was never going to be enough. So, instead of keeping his promise to a dying man he took the promise with both hands and threw it as far as away as he could.

"But those are the best kind." He had whispered to her during class.

The teacher had practically given him the greatest set up in the world to tell her that he wanted to apologize for being such an idiot. For making a promise without her. For hurting her. And most of all for not being there when she needed him the most. He knew she had needed him there at that funeral even if it was to just be her tissue, that would've been enough. But instead he had been trying to abide by a promise he made which in turn broke her heart something he had never wanted to do.

Peter remembered the rush of excitement that ran through him when she took him back. He honestly hadn't known what to expect that night when he landed on her fire escape with his heart in his hand and his stomach twisted into knots. He wasn't sure if she was going throw him out the window for being such a jerk to her or if she would throw herself into his arms with joy. Peter was pretty sure going into the situation it was going to be more of the former than the latter just because he had been a jerk. What kind of boyfriend doesn't show up to his girlfriend's father's funeral? That screams jerk if nothing else. Instead she just calmly wanted to know if he would bale on her again but he promised he wouldn't be going anywhere, that he was leaving this decision in her hands. Peter wouldn't choose for her again, she would choose for herself. She was free to walk away at any time because she was terrified of losing her life.

As Peter rolled over in his bed pulling the pillow over his head to block out the light he mused that they were both far more scared of losing each other than losing than own lives. To be honest Peter knew if it ever came down to it he would lay his own life down before he would let her lose hers. But the problem probably was going to be both of them were more than happy to die for the other as long as they other doesn't die. Trying to figure out how that would work in any situation always gave him a headache so he tried not to think about it and just hoped against all odds they would never find an answer.

As for his new apartment it wasn't very much and he had only been living in it for a month as September just started and today was the first day of classes for him at Empire State University. He knew he would probably had to get up soon anyway to get ready for his day but he wanted to enjoy sleeping as long as he could. His apartment had been something he had been working on non-stop for the last month trying to make sure as much of it was fixed before school started back up and he would have even less free time. So, in the last month he had painted, he fixed the light in the kitchen, the front door squeak, the bedroom door, the windows, among others, but most of all fixed everything in the bathroom because everything had been leaking which almost flooded the apartment. Something that had been a source of amusement for his girlfriend. Something he did not find funny in the slightest.

It had been a warm summer day in early August when everything that could go wrong which went completely wrong just because it could. He had been trying to find a leak in the bathroom which had become a mystery leak in the last week he lived here because that's how long it had been bothering him. He could not seem to find the source or what it was coming from. Was it the tub? Was it the toilet? Was it the sink? He had no idea.

So, in an attempt to find the leak he found himself underneath the sink in his bathroom with a flashlight going over everything with a fine tooth comb in order to find the leak which was annoying him more and more by the second because it was constantly letting water into his bathroom floor. In the middle of examining every inch of the sink he heard his front door open and close. He heard the light footsteps of his girlfriend as she walked into his apartment looking for him, a moment later he heard her call out for her boyfriend to give his location.

"Peter?" She called. "Are you home?"

"Bathroom!" Peter called back.

"Any particular reason you're under the sink?" She asked giving him a once over. The small apartment had no AC instead he had box window fans and all the windows open trying to cool it off. It worked to a certain extent and then it was still hot so he was without a shirt at the moment. "Half naked with your wrench?"

"Oh, you know I'm just relaxing with my wrench." Peter said teasingly. "I thought this would be a good place to just hang out. Besides its slightly cooler down here by a degree or so."

"Oh, okay." Gwen agreed sarcastically. "Just thought I should ask. So, I have another question; should I be jealous of the wrench you're relaxing with? Or should I just get a therapist on the phone now to save some time?"

"Should have gotten a therapist on the phone when I told you I was Spider-Man." Peter said.

"Good point." Gwen agreed siting down on the toilet.

"Should get one for yourself too since you never bothered to question the whole Spider-Man thing, instead you just went along with it." Peter teased grinning at her. "I think you're just as crazy as I am."

"Oh, I know I am." Gwen grinned. "I already have an appointment set up for Tuesday."

"Okay, good." Peter smiled looking back at the sink. "Ow."

Gwen raised her eyebrows at him and held her hands up as if to say that she didn't do it. Peter rolled his eyes in response to her action before returning his attention to the task at hand. He wanted to find the leak. He didn't want to put up with a wet bathroom floor anymore or else it was really going to drive him crazy. There was a really good chance he might tear the whole bathroom down and just start over.

"So, what are you really doing under the sink with your wrench that you're not using to fix anything?" Gwen asked curiously.

"There is some kind of leak in this bathroom." Peter stated plainly. "I trying to find it. I have my wrench because I just want to fix the annoying leak the moment I find it because it's been irritating me for the last week and I've had it."

"Can't find where it started?" Gwen asked.

Peter nodded looking over the old rusty pipes. Most of them needed to be replaced anyway. This apartment was practically falling down around him. Not that it was surprising the landlord was terrible at fixing anything. The day he moved in he saw a plumber leaving the landlord's apartment, it explained so much about why it was in the shape it was in. The man couldn't change a light bulb. So, Peter was glad for all the times he had paid attention to his uncle when he was fixing things around the house because all of that training was coming in handy trying to make the apartment habitable.

"No, and it's been bugging me all week." Peter grumbled. "If I can't find this leak I'm going to tighten everything in the bathroom to try and get rid of it."

"Going nuclear on your bathroom, I see." Gwen teased. "Nice to see you're keeping yourself busy."

"More like I'm going to go insane without a resolution to this problem." Peter shook his head. He was still examining underneath the sink to find the leak.

"Uh, Peter do you realize that the floor is wet?" Gwen asked softly. "Over here."

"Are you kidding me?" Peter looked over at his girlfriend. She was pointing to a puddle on the floor in the middle of the bathroom. "I swear someone must be doing this to me as some kind of sick joke." For a moment Peter stopped and eyed his girlfriend carefully. "You're not behind all of this, are you?"

"I can't believe you would accuse me of such trickery!" Gwen teased.

"I don't hear a denial though." Peter pointed out. "And of course I would accuse you of such trickery, that's just the kind of person you are. I know, because its one of the many reasons I love you so much."

"I didn't do this to you, Bugboy. I promise." Gwen smiled warmly. "But I'm more than happy to try and help you find the actual leak."

"I'm pretty sure its coming from the sink and by pretty sure I mean I have absolutely no clue." Peter shrugged. "I'm going to go with plan B. Just tighten everything until my floor is no longer getting wet. Let's see how well that works out for me."

Gwen raised an eyebrow as she sat back to watch her boyfriend as he picked up the wrench in his hand, hefting the weight in his hand for a moment before he brought it underneath the sink. She watched as he carefully began tightening anything that seemed loose or anything he thought might tighten more than it already was. Every once and a while the pipes could be heard groaning under the pressure because Peter could tighten it past the point it should be because of his strength. She watched quietly as Peter worked under the sink without any comments. Peter periodically bit his lip as he worked. Everything seemed to be going so smoothly right up until something slipped and the pipe burst. Once the pipe burst it doused Peter completely from head to toe in water. Peter spat water out holding his hands protectively over his head his limbs flailing as he tried to get away from the spraying water. Peter shook his head back and forth splashing water droplets all across the bathroom as he pushed himself out from underneath the sink to where his girlfriend was looking at him with wide eyes. For a moment Peter just sat up his torso soaked with water looking at his girlfriend who looked so surprised which quickly wore off. Instead Gwen began laughing.

"It's not funny." Peter shook his head. "That was awful."

Gwen continued laughing at her boyfriend while Peter returned his attention to the sink which was still spraying water across the bathroom. And he had thought a small leak was a problem. This was quickly escalating into a much larger problem. If it wouldn't be so suspicious he would just toss the sink out the window along with the tub and the toilet so he could just start over without anything in the way. However, Peter thought people might not understand how an ordinary man could heave all the bathroom appliances through the window by himself when it normally would take a few men to move them. Instead he settled for grumbling at the sink spraying water making his life all that much harder by soaking the universe on him. He picked up the wrench he had dropped on the floor to try and shield himself from the water.

Peter quickly tried to tighten whatever it was he had loosened which caused the small tsunami in his bathroom. Once it was tightened Peter found there was a good inch of water on the floor of his bathroom expanding on the small puddle that had been there before. Somehow the small puddle of water didn't seem like such a problem now considering the amount of water he has now. At least, with the small puddle all he had to do was grab a towel to mop it up. Now, he might need a raft of some kind just to get to the door. And to top it all off not only had he not found the leak he had been looking for in the first place but his girlfriend seemed very amused by everything that had just transpired in his bathroom. She was sitting on the toilet laughing wholeheartedly at her boyfriend. Peter frowned at his girlfriend quirking his lips at her as he waited patiently for her to stop laughing at him.

"Are you done?" Peter asked patiently.

"Not a chance." Gwen laughed again.

Peter shook his head looking down at his wet chest and then over to his girlfriend. Peter folded his arms across his chest before he placed the wrench on the ground. He turned back to his girlfriend with a grin spreading across his face widely.

"Want a hug?" Peter asked teasingly.

"No," Gwen shook her head. "No!"

Peter followed his girlfriend out of the bathroom into the rest of the apartment with his arms open and waiting to hug her tightly. Gwen moved to the other side of his small apartment trying to keep away from him. She was holding both of her hands out to him to keep him back but he just stopped on his own with an amused smile playing on his lips. She wouldn't be able to get away from him. Peter smiled warmly at his girlfriend. She smiled back like she had something up her sleeve as well.

"You're trapped. What are you smiling about?" Peter raised an eyebrow at her.

"I just have to stay away from you long enough for you to dry off." Gwen grinned. "The air will do what you won't. And if you try to get wet again I'll be free to leave."

"What makes you so sure I won't catch you before?" Peter asked. He edged a little closer to Gwen but she noticed and began to edge away as well. She gave a small shake of her head with a small shrug of her shoulders as she smiled at him. "You think you can get away from me? I'm Spider-Man."

"I'm so scared, Bugboy." Gwen teased. "You're not wearing your web-shooters. So, what are you going to do crawl on the walls or the ceiling?"

Peter shook his head briefly for a moment before he went to lunge at his girlfriend who moved out of the way towards the front door to the apartment. Instead of going after her he grabbed his backpack sitting on the floor pulling out one of his web-shooters. He quickly snapped a web blocking doorknob on the front door. Then he webbed his girlfriend pulling her to him with a retract of his webbing. Gwen crashed into his torso with a smile on her face despite the fact that she was getting soaked by her boyfriend. Peter wrapped his arms around her tightly locking her body to his so she wouldn't be able to escape him. He smiled softly at his girlfriend who seemed so relaxed in his arms. Gwen slipped her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her as well. She pulled him down to her so she could kiss him. For a moment he pulled away teasing her but she just rolled her eyes at him yanking down on his head to kiss him passionately. Peter smiled into the kiss with his girlfriend who he could hear her giggling.

Gwen let her head rest down on his shoulders once they pulled apart. Peter gently let his hand gently stroke up and down her back as they leaned against one another.

"I can't believe you really thought you could get away from me." Peter whispered.

"What makes you so sure I didn't let you catch me?" Gwen asked teasingly. "Maybe I wanted you to catch me."

Peter pulled away so he could look at his girlfriend and not just the top of her head. He was shaking his head with his mouth open to say something but it was at that moment the bathroom decided it would be a good time to explode. The toilet seemed to be doing its best impersonation of a geyser as it sprayed water across his bathroom. Both of them jumped apart at the sound of the lid of the toilet slamming into the top of it. They both looked into the bathroom where the water was quickly raising and seeping into the rest of the apartment to soak everything else. Peter turned to look at Gwen who had started laughing. He couldn't help but wonder if she had finally cracked or was starting to slip on him.

"I think we found your leak." Gwen giggled. "But it seems to have increased exponentially."

"You think?" Peter asked rhetorically.

Peter ran into his bathroom and grabbed the towels from the rack dropping them onto the floor in his bathroom to keep the world from getting completely soaked. He stacked some by the door on the floor to keep the water from escaping into the rest of the apartment. It was bad enough the bathroom was soaked, he didn't need the rest of the apartment to be soaked as well, and he really needed to stop the water. After the towels were on the floor he shut the water off on the toilet. Peter looked around the room for a moment trying to figure out what he wanted to do next while Gwen stood in the doorway looking amused.

"Why is this so funny for you?" Peter asked. "It doesn't seem all that humorous to me. I don't see what the funny part is."

"Sorry," Gwen smiled. "I can't help it. Your bathroom is just cursed, It doesn't like you all that much, I can't help but find it just a little funny that you can't walk away for more than two seconds before something goes horribly wrong. Plus, the look on your face when you saw the toilet was priceless. I was wishing I had your camera or was wondering if I could find it fast enough to get a picture of the face you made."

Gwen couldn't stop teasing him about the whole water geyser thing in the bathroom for the rest of the night because she could. He managed to clean the bathroom and fix the toilet as well as the sink to make sure that wasn't going to leak on him as well. For some reason Gwen found the whole situation rather funny so she continued to mock him about it constantly just because she could. Peter didn't find cleaning the bathroom and fixing it didn't put him in a warm and fuzzy mood but it made his girlfriend rather happy. For the most part everything he needed to fix in the apartment was pretty much done but it had been a long process getting to the finished point.

His relationship with Gwen couldn't possibly be any better. They had fixed everything they needed to with their mini break-up when he made a promise to her dying father. Peter knew he had hurt Gwen by not showing up to her father's funeral but he did his best to put all the pieces back together over the last few months with her. He knew the one year mark was beginning to approach with school starting just like the one year mark for his uncle's death was also beginning to approach. He didn't know how Gwen was going to feel about her father's anniversary but he knew the feeling wasn't going to be on the light side of anything. Just like he knew his feeling about his uncle's wasn't going to be any good either. Peter wanted to do something for her but he wasn't sure what he would do. Aside from those small bumps everything between them was going rather well. Today they both started their classes for college at Empire State University. He supposed most people would be nervous on their first day of school, especially when starting a new school but honestly after everything he's had to face down in the last year suddenly school didn't seem like such a big deal anymore.

Peter chuckled about one thing though, today was different than every other first day of school he had since he started kindergarten when he was little with his aunt and uncle. Every single first day since he started school every year his aunt drove him to school without fail. Whether she was sick or if she had to work or anything, she always drove him to school on his first day of school. He never knew why, but then again he had never bothered to ask. It was one thing the two of them had shared every year when she took him to school. She would ask him if he was excited or nervous or if he even wanted to go back. Then she would change the subject completely so they were debating something else together because it took his mind off of school until they got there. Then she would park the car and when he was little she would walk in with him but as he got older it gradually changed. She would park the car but only get out and hug and kiss him goodbye. Then she would park the car but only hug and kiss him inside so she wouldn't embarrass him because that was never the point. Once he got to high school though she dropped him off with a small kiss on the cheek and a goodbye. He figured she altered each year for him because she didn't bring him to school to embarrass him but to comfort him.

Peter could remember when he first went to school it was the last thing he wanted to do especially without his parents to take him. He remembered that his mother always took him to these monumental things but now she wasn't here to do that. So, his aunt kind of took over to help him out, to protect him. She stepped up for him and it ended up being a tradition for them. He supposed it was strange that this would be the first time in his entire school career that he wasn't being taken by his aunt.

He sighed rolling over in bed his thoughts that had been running away from him kept him from being able to fall back to sleep that morning. So, instead he just gave up trying to fall asleep. He pushed the pillow after from his face almost immediately regretting that decision since the sun was still shining too brightly through the window almost blinding him because his eyes were adjusted to the dark. Peter groaned closing his eyes tightly trying to block out the sunlight but it didn't seem to work very well, the sun insisted on being very irritating this morning. After a few moments his alarm clock began blaring loudly throughout the room making him even more frustrated. He slammed his hand down on the alarm clock hoping to just shut the thing up without smashing it to pieces. Once his hand hit the plastic he heard a small creak making him open one eye to cheek the clock to make sure he hadn't killed it. It was still there but for a moment the numbers on the front flashed almost like they weren't sure whether or not they wanted to continue working or just give out altogether.

Once he was sure his alarm clock wasn't going to have a fit and die on him he sat up in bed thankful he wouldn't have to buy yet _another _alarm clock. In some ways Peter thought he spent more money trying to replace everything he's accidentally broken in his inability to remember to control his strength. He ran his hand through his hair tiredly, not wanting to actually leave his warm comfortable bed. For the first time in a month his apartment was rather comfortable to be in, it wasn't 100 degrees causing him to sweat where he stood like he had been all month. For once it was actually nice to just be sitting in his apartment aside from the glaring sun streaming in the window to annoy him.

Peter sighed knowing he was going to have to face his day so he may as well just get out of bed and get started on it already. He pushed up from his bed kicking away the last of the covers on him and went to the window. The streets outside were already filled with people trying to get where they needed to be. He could hear horns honking, people screaming, and other normal New York sounds through his open window. It felt like home, like he belonged. Peter sighed knowing how much he loved this city. Somewhere off in the distance as he shut his window tightly and locked it he could hear sirens wailing as fire trucks raced off to help someone out. Peter sighed knowing there was nothing he could do to help at the moment, he tried so hard sometimes to keep Spider-Man to just at night but over the summer the lines ended up very complicated because he had the time during the day to race off and help people. His job revolved around Spider-Man anyway, so if he wasn't out helping people he would've had nothing to do all day. Now, he had school to think about so he was trying to limit himself. Something his girlfriend was positive he could never pull off in a 100 years. Gwen just giggled when he told her what he was planning so he could actually make time for school. She shook her head with a small laugh explaining that any time someone was in trouble and he could help, he would, because that was who he was, and it was never going to change.

He supposed that she was probably right. He would never be able to help himself. He would always try to help people because he could. Peter scoffed as he made sure the lock held in place, he tried helping people before he had the power to make any kind of difference because it was who he was. As far as his girlfriend was concerned at that point he realized he had no argument against her. Instead he opened his mouth like he had a leg to stand on and shut it just as quickly because he realized that she was right.

Peter sighed deeply as he went into the rest of his apartment which wasn't quite as bright as his bedroom and headed for the kitchen because he was starving. His cabinets were filled with food and not pots and pans because to be honest Peter rarely used the stove or the oven in his kitchen to cook. Any home cooked meals in containers in his fridge were from his aunt and from Gwen. His aunt liked sending home meals with him whenever he came over which had to be at least once a week or else Peter was afraid his aunt might think he was dead or something since he doesn't have time to call. Instead he spends time over there once a week and once he's home he finds new meals in his backpack with a set of instructions on how to reheat them. Gwen on the other hand gives the food to him and demands he take it home so she knows that he's eating something relatively healthy instead of just junk food which is what makes up most of the food he has in the apartment. There are few cabinets in his kitchen that don't hold food and those hold what plates he has, glasses, and bowls.

He walked into his kitchen opened the first cabinet to grab a bowl and then he grabbed a spoon along with a box of cereal from the cabinet which he poured into his bowl to get ready for his first day at college,

* * *

Later that same day Peter was sitting out in a small courtyard at school his mouth wide with a yawn as he stretched leaning back in his chair a little ways. He had only one class left today and he was actually looking forward to going to this one a little more so than the others he had earlier today. As another yawn slipped through his mouth he felt two hands cover his eyes.

"Bored already, Bugboy?" Gwen whispered softly into his ear. "It's only the first day."

"The first day is always boring to me." Peter shrugged.

He could hear Gwen giggle softly into his ear as she kissed him softly on the cheek before coming around one side of the bench so that she could sit down with him. She dropped her bag down by his next to his feet with a warm smile as she turned to look at him. Peter slipped an arm over her shoulders so he could pull her closer. As always she was wearing a skirt with a blouse, knee high boots, and her famous headband. Peter returned his girlfriend's smile with one of his own as he pulled her closer. He felt absolutely no resistance as he pulled her to him. Instead she just melted into his embrace.

"Well, we have the next class together, will that make it less boring for you?" Gwen asked with a grin.

"Of course," Peter nodded. "But if I do manage to fall asleep anyway feel free to smack me in order to wake me up."

"I always do." Gwen nodded teasingly.

Peter shook his head quirking his jaw at his girlfriend as she teasingly ran her hand through his hair with a grin. Gwen just smiled at her boyfriend fisting her hand in his hair at the nape of his neck to pull him to her so she could kiss him. Peter resisted as a joke for a moment causing her to roll her eyes at him in return. Peter chuckled softly leaning in to kiss his girlfriend gently.

"Hi," she whispered when they pulled away.

"Hi," he whispered back.

"So, what happened today?" Gwen asked softly. She rested her forehead against his. "You're actually on time to school today?"

"Nothing exploded or interrupted my morning causing me to be late." Peter smiled. "Besides, it's the first day. I should _try_ to make a good first impression."

"Since when do you care?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Good point," Peter chuckled. "Nothing major happened that required anybody needing Spider-Man's help so I was able to just come right to school today. I heard a couple fire engines this morning but it was someone having a heart attack. I heard it on my make shift police scanner."

"Ah, okay." Gwen nodded in understanding. "Ready to head over to class?"

"It doesn't start for another five minutes." Peter pointed out. "I'm never that early."

"I am." Gwen smiled. "Let's go."

"Do I have a choice?" Peter asked as she got up holding her hand out to him. Gwen thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. "That's what I thought."

Peter took her hand as he got up stooping to grab both of their bags slinging both of them over his shoulder despite his girlfriend trying to take hers from him. Peter gently swatted her hand out of the way insisting that he was more than capable of holding both of the bags by himself, that they weren't too heavy for him.

"Of course," Peter grinned. "I'm sure yours will be soon enough considering the amount of books you'll probably have. I probably won't be able to hold it for you then."

Gwen swatted at her boyfriend's chest as he laughed at her. He caught her shaking her head so in response he kissed her catching her off guard. When he pulled away he grinned widely at his girlfriend whose anger at him dissipated with the kiss. She glared at him like she was mad at him because she was unable to remain mad at him. Peter did his best to keep himself from laughing at the look on her face because he didn't think it was going to help at all.

"You're terrible." Gwen shook her head. "At least I don't keep spandex in mine."

"Now that – my wonderful girlfriend – was a low blow." Peter shook his head. "Where else am I suppose to keep the rest of my spandex if not in my backpack?"

"The closet," Gwen teased.

Peter wrapped an arm around her waist feeling one of her arms wrap around his shoulder blades to hold him close. Gwen only giggled softly as she let her head rest on his shoulder as they walked. Peter reveled in the feel of his girlfriend pressed closely to him as they walked to class together.

Class went relatively smoothly. It was an advanced sort of chemistry they were taking. It was a very independent class as most of the basics should have already been learned by either some class or job like the one Gwen holds at Oscorp. Peter, of course, had the basics for the class because of school but always because he took an interest in the things they were learning about. Because of the nature of the class they were all paired together with Peter and Gwen both paired together because they sat down at a lab station together. Neither of them were fazed by it, it would probably just be an excuse for them to spend even more time together.

Peter never dozed off during the class because they were already moving around putting together a small experiment to showcase what they already knew in their partnerships. Gwen teased him about managing to remain awake but Peter said it was only because he was moving, plus he was afraid of what Gwen was planning to do should he end up falling asleep. He also had to point out that if he made one wrong move they could blow the school up. Something like that was bound to keep a person from falling asleep while they're working with extremely dangerous chemicals. Gwen gave him that one but teased him on the rest. After class the two of them ended up parting ways because she had to get to Oscorp for work and Peter wanted to patrol to try and keep somewhat normal hours. He thought it might also look strange if Spider-Man altogether disappeared during the day whenever school started. Might be a giveaway to how old Spider-Man really is or what he spends his time doing. Instead he wanted to ease into returning to his patrol only at night.

So, Peter changed into his normal spandex lined with latex just in case because he never knew what kind of crazy man he was going to run into next. And headed out into the night as it started to get dark outside over the ever constant city. He brought his camera with him to patrol the streets as the well known Amazing Spider-Man.

* * *

**A.N. Hope everyone enjoyed chapter one. There's plenty more to come. ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N. Here's the second chapter! ENJOY. Don't forget to review on once your done! :)**

* * *

Two

"Why do I need this stuff anyway?" Harry asked. "I mean, honestly, when am I ever going to need to know anything about Shakespeare once I'm forced to take over my father's company? What could that possibly help me with in a bored meeting?"

"Keeping your job." Peter pointed out. "Shakespeare is all about violently bloody betrayal usually for power. Something tells me it's going to relate more to you than to someone like myself. You may not be royalty but you are rich, so some of this could happen to you. It's probably unlikely but you fit better than I do or Gwen or Mary Jane."

"Still seems pointless to me." Harry sighed tossing his Shakespeare book on his bed. "Useless, completely and utterly useless."

Harry flopped down onto his bed beside his Shakespeare book with one arm covering his eyes as he went. Peter shook his head watching from a leather desk chair by Harry's desk in his extra large bedroom at his Harry's home or mansion would probably be a better word to describe the home. Harry's room was large enough to fit a king size bed as well as a couch which sat a good twenty feet from the bed. When you walked into the room the couch was of the first things you'd see. It was free standing not next to any wall in the room. It was a black leather couch with end tables on either side of it. A coffee table sat in front of that with a universal remote on top that controlled everything in the room. Across from the couch and coffee table there was a large entertainment center that housed a large flat screen TV with a surround sound hooked up to the entire room so it could be heard no matter where anyone was seated. Also in the entertainment center was a PlayStation, an Xbox, and a Wii. He had a speaker system in the room as well but it was hooked to the surround sound. In the cabinets on the side housed all kinds of different movies for the Blu-Ray player Harry also had in the entertainment center. By the couch also sat a leather recliner chair also facing the chair but it swiveled so it could face any direction in the room.

The whole room was painted a dark green, one of Harry's favorite colors. His bed was enormous and one Harry's favorite aspects to his room because it was made of a nice oak wood stained beautifully as far as he was concerned. Peter always thought it was weird how attached Harry was to his bed but he let it slide. There were dressers on the opposite side from where Peter was sitting also made from the same wood that his bed was made from. Something Harry also liked. Next to his bed there was a door that led to a huge bathroom. The bathroom had a jacuzzi as well as shower and a bath. This room unlike his bedroom was painted white and kept up by the butler who works for the Osborns and has for as long as Peter could remember. The butler to him used to seem like a fixed part of the home whenever he was there because the butler was always there to greet him with a smile on his face. Bernerd was the butler's name, a nice man overall, and he used to remind Peter of a grandfather type.

Peter was sitting in Harry's leather desk chair by Harry's desk with held not only a regular seated computer with all the trimmings but a laptop as well. Peter kept his distance from the desk because he didn't want to touch anything for fear he might break something considering everything sitting there cost a few thousand dollars easy. Although he was sure Harry wouldn't mind if he didn't end breaking something. His best friend would probably just shrug his shoulders saying he'd just order a new one with his father's credit card because his father wouldn't care. That's how Harry's relationship with Harry worked because his father was never around much growing up. His mother disappeared from Harry's life when he was very young leaving Harry alone with his father. Harry's father Norman Osborn was never much of a father. He was never around for Harry when he was little. Most of the time he was left with Bernerd to be raised by him instead. And his father just left him with credit cards and the run of the mansion to make up for never being around to be a father to his son. Once Harry became too much for Bernerd to handle and he started getting into much bigger and worse things and began getting arrested.

So, Harry was shipped away for years to a military school to reform him into a respectable human being ready to take over his business when the time came. However, Peter was almost entirely positive that the military school Harry had been sent to should refund all of the Osborn's money they spent while he was there because it didn't change Harry in the slightest. He was still the craziest person Peter had ever met. He was still ready to steal a car if meant having a good time. Somethings never change and he doubted a small bout in a military school where they try to beat the humanity out of you was going to change a thing about Harry. He was still going to be the same guy he always was and is.

After a moment Harry's phone buzzed which he quickly yanked from his pocket to look at it. A small smile began playing on his best friend's lips. Peter raised an eyebrow at his friend but Harry seemed to ignore his friend's look instead he just focused on whatever was on his screen until he finished the text he was writing and set it down on the bed beside him.

"Who was that?" Peter asked.

"MJ," Harry said simply. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but it's not like we were talking."

"It's fine." Peter shrugged. "If Gwen called I'd answer the phone. I always answer the phone when she calls."

"Why?" Harry asked. A funny expression crossed his face. "Whipped much?"

"Nah, you wouldn't understand." Peter shrugged. "It's a private joke, difficult to explain to anyone else. Don't worry about it. What did she want?"

"Nothing important." Harry shrugged. "Come on, I have something I want to show you anyway."

"I thought you asked me to come over here to study." Peter asked. "Not so that you could show me some vague thing."

"I need a break from Shakespeare." Harry shook his head. "Or else my head may actually explode. I only wish I was kidding. I don't know how Shakespeare could possibly even sit down long enough to write this stuff without putting himself to sleep or blowing his own head up. Or is that how he died? He blew himself up with his own writing? Because to be honest I wouldn't be all that surprised by that news."

"Uh, no." Peter shook his head. "Shakespeare wrote some great stuff. Maybe if you actually bothered to sit down and read it you'd know instead of getting distracted by what I'm sure is some expensive shiny object that has managed to grasp your attention for five minutes."

"Just come with me." Harry shook his head with a small smile. "It's in the garage."

Peter followed Harry through the house which was just a long maze of hallways which Peter wasn't entirely sure he could find his way back without Harry leading the way. Harry just walked through the house making lefts and then rights like it was no big deal and for him it probably wasn't. No matter how much time Peter had spent in this house over the years he would never get the hang of moving through the house by himself. Of course, it may have something to do with the fact that he could probably fit several dozen of his own home where he grew up into the mansion Harry grew up in.

As they entered the garage Peter figured out what Harry had wanted to show him much sooner because for once Harry was not dressed as elegantly as he normally choose to be. Today he was wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. Of course they cost more than all of Peter's clothes combined but still he was dressed down from what he normally wore. Normally Harry came dressed in suits made from the finest materials known to man. He almost always had seven more layers of clothing than necessary because he always wanted to look his best but today when Peter came to see Harry he was dressed down. Harry looked like he had just gotten back to his house when Peter showed up on his front doorstep. He was wearing black jeans with a dark green long sleeve shirt with leather boots with thick soles. For once his hair wasn't arranged neatly on the top of his head, instead it looked like he had been wearing something on his head before he had come to see Peter in the foyer of his home. Now Peter understood what his friend was doing and considering who he had lived next door to since he was four he was angry with himself for not figuring it out sooner.

Resting on its kickstand in front of Peter and Harry was a racing motorcycle painted in a dark green and a dark royal purple. On top of the bike sat a leather jacket as well. It looked like Harry had just dropped it there when he heard that Peter had arrived. The motorcycle looked like it had just been driven and carelessly left in the garage when Harry went running inside to meet with his friend. Beside the jacket there was a glossy dark green helmet with dark purple flames on either side of it. Peter sighed softly as he looked over the racing motorcycle. It was in top condition, top of the line parts, and Peter guessed it probably had the fastest and best engine money could buy because Harry never bought anything but. Harry was grinning as he walked around to the other side of the motorcycle.

"So, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"Do you even have a license to drive one of these?" Peter asked curiously with an eyebrow raised. "Because you do know you need a motorcycle license to drive this, right?"

"Yes, I know." Harry huffed. "And yes I have one. I'm not an idiot. I got it last week."

"Alright," Peter nodded. He stuffed his hands into his pockets with a sigh. "Then I just have one more question. What inspired you to buy a motorcycle? You've never shown an interest in them before. I know you like to go fast in something dangerous but you usually choose to get fast cars."

"Well..." Harry trailed off. "I - "

"Sir," Bernerd interrupted. "Miss Watson is here to see you."

Peter turned to look at his friend who looked like he had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he quirked his head to the side. Peter raised his eyebrows at his friend giving him a look as Harry just took a deep breath thanking Bernerd for letting him know. Harry avoided the question in Peter's eyes as he walked over to the door in the garage followed closely by Peter as he went. Peter kept the questioning look on his face as he followed his friend out into the front room of the mansion where most guests were greeted or asked to wait while Bernerd went to get the Osborn they were looking for. Bernerd disappeared into one of the many hallways as they went leaving both of them alone until the reached Mary Jane standing in the front room.

Mary Jane had on her riding boots with her white motorcycle helmet tucked underneath her arm. She was wearing her leather and jean jacket today instead of her all leather jacket. Her eyed popped out as she took a look around the large house because of the black eyeliner she was wearing. She was wearing an expressionless face as she took in her surroundings. The size of the house or the sheer magnitude of the house didn't seem to have any kind of effect on her as she looked around. She acted as though she was in houses like this all the time. The face didn't surprise Peter in the slightest, Mary Jane wasn't big on material possessions, and people who had material possessions didn't impress her at all. Mary Jane also didn't get excited about large homes or anything like that because none of it mattered much to her. Peter was pretty sure living in a big home wasn't on her to do list but becoming a successful at what she wanted to be was and proving to her father that she could do it was also big on her to do list for life. One of which didn't include a bigger house. Maybe in some ways she thought if she had a big house her father would end up trying to mooch off of her.

"Hey, Harry." Mary Jane smiled. "Oh, hey Peter, I didn't know you were here. Harry didn't mention he was hanging out with you in his texts."

"I didn't know you were thinking of coming over." Harry explained. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I would come by to see your new bike." Mary Jane smiled. "The one you were telling me about over the phone last night."

"Maybe I should get going." Peter shrugged. "It's not as though we were actually getting any studying done anyway. I'll just run up and get my backpack and be on my way."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "You don't have to go, I'm not throwing you out or anything. Stay and hang out with us."

"Yeah, Tiger." Mary Jane shrugged. "It'll be fun."

"Nah, it's okay. You guys have fun though." Peter smiled.

Without giving them another chance to protest his wanting to leave he jogged up the stairs leading to the second floor which over looked the first. He went down the hall to Harry's room to collect his backpack as well as his books. Once he had everything Peter slung his backpack over both of his shoulders hooking it on firmly before he left the room. When he went back downstairs he found both Mary Jane and Harry had disappeared from the room completely. Peter shrugged leaving the mansion heading out front down the large set of stairs leading to the sidewalk. Parked on the curb was Mary Jane who was leaning against her bike waiting with her arms folded across her chest. Her white helmet rest on the seat of her bike.

"Hey, Tiger." She smiled.

Mary Jane was facing the mansion from where she was leaning against her bike. Peter said hello as he went jogging down the rest of the stairs to Mary Jane.

"What are you doing out here?" Peter asked curiously. "I thought you were going to see Harry's new bike which was parked in the garage."

"We're going for a ride since you decided not to stay." Mary Jane raised an eyebrow at him. "Gwen put you up to it?"

"Up to what?" Peter asked genuinely confused.

"Up to making sure Harry and I are alone any chance you get to make sure of it?" Mary Jane asked. She was searching Peter's face.

"Gwen hasn't mentioned anything." Peter cocked his head to the side. "But just out of curiosity why would she mention anything? Did I happen to miss a conversation in between then and now? Why would you and Harry need to be left alone on regular basis?"

"Quit fishing!" Mary Jane snapped.

"What am I fishing for exactly?" Peter asked with a grin.

"Don't," Mary Jane shook her head. "Okay, just don't. I don't want to talk about it. I don't know what to make of it. But, will you do me a favor?"

"Uh, sure," Peter said carefully.

"Tell Gwen thanks," Mary Jane shrugged. "For not saying anything and for not pushing."

"Will do," Peter nodded.

For a moment neither of them said anything. Peter knew the last thing Mary Jane ever wanted was to end up falling for some guy because then she may actually want a real relationship. For the most part Mary Jane preferred being on her own, relying only on herself, and never worrying about anyone else. That way no one had the ability to hurt her and Peter had noticed the same thing in Harry. Now he could see both of his friends were developing feelings for one another but neither of them wanted to admit the truth. Instead both of them wanted to keep it to themselves. They wanted to try and shove the feelings to the side because then they can't get hurt if they pretend they aren't real. Plus, neither of them wanted to be the first one to admit they felt something more for the other. Of course, that's why Peter assumed Mary Jane thought Gwen might be pushing so one of them would admit it in the longer amount of time they spent alone together. Being in a group it was easy to hide from everything in the touchy feelings category.

Peter although knew his girlfriend better than that, she would never push. Gwen understands that neither of them are sure they're even ready emotionally to be in a serious relationship so she's giving them a chance to figure it out themselves. Besides, Gwen isn't one for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. If Mary Jane came to Gwen with a problem or because she wanted to talk and get it off her chest but wasn't asking for help or for her to do anything then she wouldn't. Gwen wouldn't over step the line Mary Jane was drawing because that's not who she is. Apparently, Mary Jane is beginning to see that as well.

Peter checked his phone when it buzzed making him irritated when he saw the name flashing across the screen. It was J. Jonah Jameson his boss from the _Daily Bugle_ bugging him about getting more Spider-Man photos for their latest issue. Time to get to work, Peter thought as he sighed. Mary Jane was looking at him expectantly as he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

"Everything okay?" She asked concerned.

"Just my boss," Peter shrugged. "He's demanding new Spider-Man photos for the newest issue. So, I guess I couldn't have stayed anyway since I have to get to work."

"I've been meaning to ask you." Mary Jane began. "How do you even manage to get half of those Spider-Man photos. Everyone in the city has been trying to get a decent shot of that guy since he appeared almost a year ago and so far you're the only one. And you manage to do it consistently. How is that possible?"

"Luck," Peter answered. "I just hang out in rooftops in the parts of the city with the most crime until he comes along to save the day. Then I snap a few photos of the action and get paid. It doesn't seem all that hard to me."

Peter grinned although not for the reason that Mary Jane may be thinking. He was smiling because it wasn't that hard at all for him. All he had to do was take his camera out with him when he patrolled and set it in just the right position to get all the action of himself taking down the bag guys. Of course, the only people who knew that was Gwen, Captain Stacy, and Dr. Connors. Gwen would never say anything, Captain Stacy can't say anything, and anything Dr. Connors say probably won't be believed since he's locked away in a prison for the criminally insane.

Peter and Mary Jane turned their heads as they heard a loud roar of a motorcycle as it turned the corner on the street to pull up alongside them. Harry lifted the front part of his motorcycle to show his face. He was decked out in all the right gear, he had the boots, the leather jacket, the helmet, and the leather gloves. Mary Jane pushed off of her bike to sit down on it properly as Peter watched her pull on her helmet and then her own set of gloves. Peter could tell she had been out riding and not just headed to work since she was wearing gloves. For her work is only a few minutes away on her motorcycle so it was no big deal to go without them but if she was going out for a long ride she always wore her gloves.

"I'll see you later, Tiger." Mary Jane grinned. "Have fun hanging out on rooftops."

"I practically live up there." Peter muttered to himself. "I'll see you guys later."

Peter waved his goodbye as he walked away from both of them and down the street a little ways. He could hear the two of them discussing where they were going to go or who was going to lead so they wouldn't lose each other. After a moment he heard Mary Jane's motorcycle roar to life as she started it up. The motorcycle hummed to life sounding extra crisp today. She must have tuned it or cleaned it up within the last few days, Peter thought. He turned his head to the left to wave at both of them again as they raced past him. Despite Harry having the better motorcycle out of the two of them or at least that's what one might think considering the money he poured into it Mary Jane was ahead of him. And Peter could see it wasn't for a lack of trying or an inability to ride on Harry's part.

Mary Jane had not only been riding probably a lot longer than Harry was her motorcycle was something she spent a lot of time on. She was always taking of that thing. She may not have spent thousands on it but it was her baby and it was well taken care of all the time. Mary Jane's motorcycle was probably in a better running condition and she knew it like the back of her head. She could probably take it apart blind folded and then put it back together.

Peter shook his head at the two of them as he waited for them to be safely out of sight as he waited at the mouth of an alley beside him. Once they were gone Peter took a quick look around him before he ducked into the alley so he could change. He scaled the wall easily landing on the roof of the building beside Harry's mansion where he opened his backpack pulling out the mask and gloves to his suit. He stripped off his regular clothes stuffing them into the backpack instead. Once that was all set he checked both of his web-shooters to make sure they were functioning. He pulled on his gloves and then he pulled on his mask slinging the backpack over his shoulder once more. He went to the edge of the building pulling the make shift police scanner from a small pocket on his backpack to listen to any crime in the area. After a moment he heard of a small robbery taking place not too far from where he was. Peter jumped from the building spinning himself a web as he took off into the streets of New York to helps it's finest.

* * *

Later that night Peter dropped off the pictures he had taken of Spider-Man at the _Daily Bugle _which was always fun. Peter was never fond of dealing with the editor of the _Daily Bugle. _Peter was sure the man detested everything in the entire world. He wasn't entirely sure how the man felt about his wife because it wasn't like he got all happy or warm and fuzzy whenever he talked about his wife but he also didn't have the same flip outs whenever he talked to his wife either that he had when he spoke to anyone else in the world. And of course, Jameson had no respect for Peter Parker or Spider-Man. All he ever printed about Spider-Man were accusatory stories wondering whether or not this was the day he would turn on New York and demand they all bow at his feet just because he was more powerful than anyone else. Jameson always wondered what the people of New York would do then and of course he would get to print the paper that he has wanted to since Spider-Man showed up in New York. It would be the paper telling everyone that he had told them so, that he was right while everyone else was wrong to cheer for Spider-Man.

If for no other reason Peter would never do that to New York just because for the rest of his life he just wants to prove that Jameson is wrong about him, because he is. Peter wouldn't do that. He would never be able to look in the mirror again. He wouldn't be able to live with himself and most importantly Gwen would never be able to live with him again. She would want nothing to do with him if he did that to the people of this fine city. For Peter that would be the number one reason not to do anything because he valued Gwen's opinion above everyone else's. Peter did put the reason to prove Jameson wrong for the rest of his life high up on the list as well.

So, here he was bracing himself to enter Jameson's office. Peter took a deep breath placed his hand on the door pushing it open to enter the office. Sitting at his desk was Jameson with two of his other employees sitting in the room as well. One of them was standing beside a chart that looked like a graph indicating circulation of the newspaper. The other was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the desk holding a large binder that was three to four inches thick. He was busy flipping through the pages looking for something and didn't notice Peter's entrance into the room. Jameson in the middle of this was on the floor talking with somebody or rather he wasn't talking with somebody he was screaming at somebody.

"I don't care what you think!" Jameson yelled. "Just have it ready for me by tomorrow or you're fired! Do you understand that? The only person whose opinion matters to me is my own! I didn't hire you to think and I'll fire you for it! I want it on my desk first thing in the morning or pack up your stuff and get out!"

Peter shook his head wondering if Jameson was walking down the street would he kick a puppy just because he could or would he just scream at it for being a puppy? Peter was busy contemplating the answer to this question as Jameson took his office phone and slammed it down on its receiver which is when he noticed that Peter was in the room. Although, Jameson seemed confused by Peter's presence in his office despite the messages he left on Peter's phone demanding either more Spider-Man pictures on Peter's head on a silver platter, either way he wanted something from him. Jameson frowned at Peter getting the man who had been looking through the binder and now had opened his mouth to say something but had noticed the face his boss was making so he was trying to identify the reason. Peter was sure the guy was just hoping he wasn't the reason behind the face Jameson was making.

"What are you doing here?" Jameson grumbled. "Did we have a meeting?"

"I wanted to drop these off as soon as possible." Peter handed him a folder. "Since you wouldn't leave me along today about getting more Spider-Man pictures."

Jameson opened the folder like a kid unwrapping presents on Christmas morning to see the Spider-Man pictures had brought him. "Are these from today?"

"Yes," Peter nodded. "Straight from the street."

"Ah, perfect." Jameson smiled like a kid in candy store who was told he could have whatever he wanted for free. Jameson flipped through the pictures for a moment. "Crap, crap, crap, jeez don't you know how to shoot a decent picture? Never mind that, I'll give you the usual for the whole batch. Deal?"

"Fine," Peter nodded.

The door to the office burst open as a woman watched in looking rather angry as she starred down Jameson like she wasn't afraid of him. The only other person besides her Peter has ever seen stare down Jameson was Robbie the man standing by the chart right now.

"You killed my story." She said in an accusatory voice. "Those sources were legitimate!"

"It was crap." Jameson stated offhandedly.

Was that his favorite word? Peter wondered while also trying to figure out who this person yelling at Jameson was. She fumed silently for a moment as Jameson kept flipping through the folder Peter had given him seemingly ignoring her presence in the room. Peter watched as the woman took a deep breath calming herself down. This woman was only a year or two older than he was. She had dark brown hair with slender figure and from the looks of it a temper as well as guts.

"That story was fine." She snapped. "You wouldn't know a good story if it walked up and punched you in the face!"

"Listen Miss Brant, I've been the editor here for years and I know what I'm doing." Jameson yelled. "If I were you I'd listen to my opinion and take accurate notes!"

"Ha!" She scoffed haughtily. "I suppose that's why we're rated as one of the lowest newspapers to read in New York! We were behind every other paper in the world before you started getting those Spider-Man photos in from that photographer. I don't even know why he stays here, you probably don't appreciate him, or even bother to pay him enough. Any other newspaper in the city would fall all over themselves to get pictures of Spider-Man!"

"If you don't like it here, Miss Brant why don't you quit?" Jameson asked simply.

"Maybe I should," she snapped. "And I'll take my story elsewhere."

Jameson looked a little perturbed by that last sentence as his jaw clenched and unclenched for a moment before he turned slowly in his chair to face her. He placed the folder Peter had given him down on his desk gently as if those photos were the most fragile thing in the universe. Then he placed his hands on the desk so he could push himself up to a standing position so he could look Miss Brant in the eyes. He didn't look very thrilled of course he never looked very thrilled so it wasn't really much of a change.

"Don't threaten me!" He yelled. "I am J. Jonah Jameson, I've been reporting since before you were born. Reporters are a dime a dozen, I'll find a new one."

"They may be a dime a dozen but it doesn't mean they're any good or that they'll even put up with your crap!" She yelled. "And you know it."

"Robbie!" Jameson snapped gaining the other man's attention. "Publish Miss Brant's story page one below the fold."

"Above the fold," she said smoothly.

"Page two then." Jameson countered. "Now get out."

Miss Brant turned around realizing Peter was standing there for the first time since she walked into the room. Robbie walked over to stand beside the door waiting for her to come with him so they could get everything settled. She quirked her head at him for a moment as she eyed him carefully before she placed her hands on her hips.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Peter Parker," he answered.

"I'm Betty Brant," she held her hand out. "Ah, so you're the Spider-Man photographer. Nice to finally meet you. I love your pictures. But if I were you I'd find a different place to publish them, someplace that might actually appreciate it."

She tossed the last part of her sentence over her shoulder to Jameson as she shook Peter's hand. Without letting him say anything else she was out the door with Robbie following close behind her as they weaved through all the desks out in the bullpen. Once they were gone Jameson cut a check from a binder on his desk and handed it to him telling him to get out of his office but to come back soon with more pictures of Spider-Man. He shook his head leaving the room trying to escape anymore yelling. Frankly, today had been a pretty mellow day for Jameson. He hadn't yelled as much as he normally did when he brought him photos. Peter decided it would be best to just get out while he could. So, he took the check without saying anything else and left the room leaving the guy with the binder alone with Jameson. As he was getting into the elevator he had to wonder about whether or not that was actually a good idea, there won't be any witnesses if Jameson decides to up and kill the poor guy. Or if Jameson yells at the guy so much that it induces a heart attack from the poor guy.

As the elevator doors slide closed he could hear Jameson screaming at the guy in his office to get out and to leave him be. Peter briefly saw the office doors open quickly as they guy rushed out but it was caught off by the close of the doors. He shook his head, Jameson was one of the people who would never change. And he may not like Spider-Man but it was no skin off his nose but it didn't matter to him. Jameson just blew smoke, nothing he said mattered to anyone, he may be in charge of newspaper but no one ever really took the _Bugle_ seriously enough for Peter to worry about anything. As far as Peter was concerned he had already won over the biggest critic he was ever going to have and if he could convince George Stacy of all people that Spider-Man wasn't a menace or an anarchist then he could survive anyone saying anything they wanted to about him.

* * *

After his stop at the _Daily Bugle _was over he started back to his apartment building but he ended up getting caught up in helping out the police for a few hours. Peter was in the middle of swinging down the street when he heard his phone ringing, without bothering to check to see who it was Peter tapped the Bluetooth piece in his ear under the mask to answer his phone.

"Hello?" Peter answered.

"Hi, sweetie," his aunt said happily. "I wanted to call and ask how your first week of school went. Did you like all of your classes?"

"Yeah," Peter quickly jumped on a moving police car. "My classes are great, I really like them."

He soon realized keeping up a conversation while riding on the back of a police car was rather difficult since the person on the other end of the phone couldn't hear him over the sirens.

"I can't hear you." His aunt shouted. "Where are you? Why do I hear sirens? You're not in the back of a police car, are you?"

"No," Peter answered. "I'm not in a police car, Aunt May. I'm just walking down the street and there are police cars driving by with their sirens on. Something must been happening there's three of them. Hold on while I find someplace quieter."

Peter flicked his wrist again swinging away from the police car through the air hoping his aunt wouldn't be able to hear the sirens anymore. He tried to get as far away from the loud police cars as he could while he remained with them to wherever they were headed so he could help. Although he wasn't entirely sure how he was planning on doing that with his aunt on the phone. When he was talking to Gwen while following police cars it was one thing because he didn't have to lie about what he was doing or try not to say something about what he was doing. With his aunt he had to be careful to try and keep her as much out of what he spent his free time doing. Even if he thought she might know what he was up to it was different because it wasn't for sure, she didn't know in an official capacity like Gwen does.

So, here he was swinging down the street following police cars through the city with his aunt on the phone talking him about something so normal like school while he did something completely abnormal. Sometimes his life just ended up working out in such strange fashions like taking a phone call about picking up eggs while he sat on the top of a building over looking the city because he had climbed up the side of the building by sticking to it like a spider. Something so normal in the middle of something so weird.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying your classes." She said happily. "Do you have any classes with Gwen?"

"Uh," Peter said failing to hear her question. "Uh, we have a few."

"That's good." His aunt said softly. "Peter is everything okay? You seem rather distracted. I asked you about school and Gwen but you have yet to babble nervously about one or the other. Did I interrupt something? Because I can call back later."

"It's fine." Peter said suddenly. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I haven't called you sooner but I've been busy."

"It's alright, Peter." Aunt May said knowingly. "I understand. Tell you what, why don't you call me back when you have a moment when you can talk. No matter what time it is, I'll be there. Sound good?"

"Okay, Aunt May," Peter said softly. "I'll call you later."

Peter heard the line cut off on the other side so he hung up on his side as well as. Peter sighed, there went his aunt hinting that she knew the truth and she quite possibly may know that he is really Spider-Man but without giving too much away. Even if she did know about him he couldn't figure out why she didn't say anything to him. Peter on the other hand didn't want to say anything to her for fear that she didn't really know and he blew it by saying something. Besides, it was better if fewer people knew the truth. He didn't want to have to try and protect a hundred people if they knew his secret. It was easier just trying to worry about Gwen and his aunt. Those were all he had to worry about. Probably more Gwen than his aunt because she knew about his little secret which put her directly in the line of fire because she was always ready and willing to help him stop whoever was trying to take over the world now.

Peter sighed as he stopped landing on a building sticking to the side looking down at the street where the police cars had just stopped. A man holding a gun in his hand along with some kind of sack in the other with a mask over his face came running out of the alley. As soon as he saw the officers parked there yelling at him to drop his weapon he opened fired on them causing the one car that had parked with its officers out of the car to duck behind their doors while the other car swerved to a stop to help. Peter snapped a web at the web knocking the gun from his hand. The man looked up only to see Spider-Man swinging towards him kicking him back knocking him over so he rolled over himself before he sprawled out on the ground.

Peter webbed the man's chest pulling him to him wrapping the web around him to pin his arms behind his back before he handed the man over to the police who thanked him for the hand. He nodded in response saying that they were welcome before he jumped into the air shooting another web to the building he had dropped down from and disappeared into the night deciding maybe it was time to just call it a night and head home. Once Peter was back to his apartment he sent Gwen a message letting her know that he was still alive and that she could sleep peacefully tonight. Gwen sent him a message back asking him to keep it that way before she asked if he was still coming over that night. To which he answered he needed to call his aunt first and then he'd be over. Meanwhile, Peter changed into his regular clothes getting comfortable before he heated up some of the food he had in the fridge that Gwen had left for him. Something she made often for herself and for him as well since they both liked it so much: Salsa chicken.

After he had made himself dinner he went back into his living room plugged in his phone to charge before he called his aunt. She answered after the second ring.

"Hey, Aunt May." He smiled. "How was your day?"

Normal and strange just go hand in hand for him.

* * *

After his phone call with his aunt he cleaned himself up before packing some spare clothes in his backpack. He locked up his apartment before he left through the window which is his normal means of leaving his apartment and made his way to Gwen's apartment not too far from where he lives but it was definitely in a much nicer neighborhood than his. He didn't bother with the front door of her apartment building instead he went straight for her fire escape something he had done multiple times since she had moved into her apartment building. Gwen had admitted that something she had been looking for in the apartments she had her pick of was a bedroom with a fire escape attached to it. She admitted his little visits using her fire escape in the middle of the night was something she would miss too much. Which is how she ended up with apartment in between Oscorp and Empire State University in a decent neighborhood not too far from where Peter was living either as well as from where she used to live as well so that she was still close to her family.

Peter landed gently on the fire escape noting the small piece of paper stuck to the window that basically threatened his life if he bothered to knock on the window. Something he couldn't help himself with, he always knocked before he entered someone else's room or apartment because it wasn't his, he didn't have the right to just walk in, and he wouldn't want anyone walking in on him. Peter just chuckled when he saw the note half tempted to knock on the window anyway just to see what she was going to do to him but instead he deiced to just grab the note from the window as he let himself into the room. Her bedroom was dark but he could see there was a light on in the living room.

Gwen had been living here for a few weeks now but you would never be able to tell, instead it looked like she had been living here for years. Everything was in its place all exactly the way she wanted it to be. She had definitely settled into living here. Peter carefully made his way out into the living room where he found Gwen sitting on the couch with her laptop on the coffee table while she sifted through several dozens of folders spread out on her lap, the couch, the floor, the end tables, and the coffee tables. Peter was almost frightened to ask what she might be working on that would require that much paperwork because he was afraid he might end up needing to do paperwork just for hearing about it. Instead Peter just leaned against the wall leading into the living room from the hallway. It was a nice apartment. She had two bedrooms down a hallway from the living room which is where the entrance to the apartment was. She had the whole place already furnished from the money she had saved herself over the years. The bedroom she had moved herself into was the bigger of the two with a bathroom connected to it that also had its own entrance from the hallway. The kitchen in the apartment was divided by a free standing wall. The kitchen had two entrances and on that wall had the fridge and stove with some cabinets with a table and two chairs across from it.

"I think if you have anymore folders you'll drown in a sea of paper." Peter said softly hoping not to startle her.

"Don't do that!" Gwen took a deep breath. "Make a noise."

"I did," Peter said seriously. "I spoke."

"Ugh," Gwen gently rubbed her neck. "I need a break. Distract me from this mess of paperwork, please. I need something else to think about or focus on."

Peter nodded as he walked over helping her to clean up the giant stack of paperwork she had. He helped her carefully place it into several neat stacks on the coffee table so they were ready for her whenever she decided to get back to them. Once the couch was cleaned off he dropped down beside her on the couch with a soft warm inviting smile. Gwen looked exhausted from being hunched over her work for so long so he held his arms open so she could crawl into his arms. Gwen smiled wearily crawling into his lap straddling his legs as she sat down on his lap with a smile. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she let her head rest on his shoulder feeling his arms wrap around her waist pulling her close to him. He ran his hand up and down her back soothingly to relax her from her obviously stressful day at work.

Peter could feel her gently playing with the hair at the nape of his neck as she rested against his chest. Her weight against him felt nice in some ways. It felt like they were two pieces of a puzzle fitting together perfectly. Gwen kept running her fingers through his hair for a few more minutes before she lifted her head off of his shoulder so she could speak.

"You know I've been living here for almost a month and you still have yet to spend an entire night here with me." Gwen said softly.

"Is that hint?" Peter asked softly.

"Maybe, Bugboy." Gwen whispered softly against his lips.

She pressed her lips to his pulling herself flush against him as well. Peter wrapped his arms around his girlfriend more firmly. There was no need to talk Peter into staying, he was firmly on board with that idea as he kissed his girlfriend back.

"Bedroom?" He mumbled against her lips. "What's wrong with right here?" Gwen asked teasingly.

Peter just grinned at his girlfriend who smiled at him in return tugging his lips back to her own as she also started tugging on his shirt helping him to shrug out of it. The future was coming, problems would arise, and there would always be a new villain to face but right now in this moment neither one of them could bring themselves to care. They had each other for this moment and if this was all they had together than they planned to enjoy every single second of it. So, they enjoyed their night spent in one another's arms.

* * *

**A.N. So, here's the second chapter! What do you guys think? **

**Let me know what you think because it's important to me to know that you guys are liking this story. Tell me what've I've done well or what I can improve on. What you like, what you dislike, and any general comment about my writing or storytelling will be very helpful and appreciated. As, I have stated before negative comments about my writing are important as well because it will help me improve but don't be rude to me or to the characters please. These belong to Stan Lee and no one likes their work insulted. Just be nice, say you disliked something politely. I appreciate that as well, thank you. **

**Thank you for reading! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N. Welcome back! Enjoy the chapter! :)**

* * *

Three

Peter woke up the following morning to unfamiliar surroundings. He wasn't in his new apartment at all. Instead nothing around him belonged to him, instead he recognized it as Gwen's stuff. He saw photos hanging on the around the room. Her dresser was in the corner with what she used to get ready in the morning for every day. She had her hair brush up there, with elastics, multiple headbands sat there, any jewelry she normally wears although it's not very much, and lotion. Above her dresser there was a newspaper in a frame hanging on the wall from the _Daily Bugle. _It was the first picture he'd ever sold to the _Bugle. _Gwen had insisted on framing it and hanging it up on the wall to honor it as she had put it when he asked her about it. Peter thought it was a little a much by putting into a frame to hang it up but she wanted to so he let the issue go. It wasn't worth trying to understand why she thought so much about putting up a picture.

He took a deep breath feeling a firm, warm weight pressing down on his chest. He looked down to see Gwen fast asleep on his chest. She had one arm over his clutching him to her. Peter smiled happily thinking he could wake up to her by his side every day for the rest of his life. Nothing would make him happier, he thought. The idea became more and more appealing every second he spent thinking about it. A smile spread slowly across his lips as he stared down at his beautiful girlfriend resting peacefully in his arms.

Gwen never looked more peaceful than when she was fast asleep. It was like all the stress she ever went through, at work, with him, or with anything else in the world just melted away leaving her behind. Peter couldn't help but wish he had his camera so he could remember this forever. He smiled happily again at his girlfriend as she slept because he had to admit that it was nice having their own places because then he didn't have to keep an ear out for anyone who might barge in on them in the mornings anymore. Peter also didn't have to worry about his aunt calling him in the morning or worrying about him because he didn't come home the night before. It was nice knowing he didn't have anywhere to go right now, instead he could just stay here with his girlfriend in her nice warm bed. He didn't have to rush home. He didn't have to worry about someone else rushing him home. He could relax because there was nothing stopping them from enjoying every moment of it. Nothing to hinder them from enjoying each other's company.

Peter pulled Gwen tighter against him burying his nose in her hair as he gently ran his hand over her back. Still asleep Gwen moved closer to Peter holding him tighter when she did. He reached down pulling the blanket back over both of them. It was barely morning outside on a Saturday morning. Which meant that it was far too early to be awake or functioning. So, peter settled back into the bed with Gwen closing his eyes tightly to shut out everything around him. Unfortunately even being awake for these few minutes had been too much for him because he couldn't manage to fall back to sleep. He laid in the bed for who knew how long as he stared at the ceiling until he just couldn't take it anymore. His eyes roamed around the room looking for something more interesting to stare at in the hopes that it would help him relax enough to fall asleep. Peter couldn't help the smile that spread across his face when he saw her stuffed Spider-Man sitting on her night table. She'd put it there last night when they went to bed so it didn't keep getting knocked to the floor.

Considering it had been a joke gift for her she seemed to really love having it around her. It was always on her bed whenever he came over. She slept with it in her bed at night whenever he wasn't with her which had been a lot the last month since he had been so busy he usually just went home and crashed in his bed. Half the time she spent more time at his place than her own at night so she could still spend that time with him. Sometimes she even brought the stuffed Spider-Man with her. It was times like that when he joked that she thought the little Spider-Man's protection was better than his, something that usually earned him a teasing whack over the head. Peter blinked looking at the ceiling once more tiredly. He just wanted to go back to sleep, there weren't many times he could just sleep, without having anywhere to go, or anything to do. And there weren't many mornings Peter could just sleep beside Gwen one of the few places he felt complete and whole. When he was with her everything felt like it should be. He felt safe with her as strange as it may sound. He may be the one with all the superpowers but he wasn't sure how far he would get without her. He needed her to protect him in a mental and even an emotional fashion instead of a physical one. Something he was sure was much harder than what he choose to do. Emotions are so much more complicated than something physical. It's easy to put yourself into physical harm to save someone if that's the type of person you are. But opening yourself up emotionally, that's hard.

Peter's eyes unconsciously moved down to his sleeping girlfriend. He had an idea as his eyes slide closed as he took a deep breath to focus himself. Peter drowned out all the noise around him to focus solely on her. Peter could hear each of her deep even breaths as she slept. He could hear her lungs working to pump air through her body. He listened more carefully to her, honing in on the thumping of her heart pumping blood through her veins. Peter focused solely on that sound and nothing else. He let it lull him back to sleep. So much so that he could hear the sound even as he slept, he could hear it in his dreams.

Peter didn't know how much he had slept when he was woken up by a pair of lips on his own. He opened his eyes to find Gwen hovering a few inches above his face. Her green eyes shone brightly and happily as he woke up slowly but surely. He saw a slow smile spread across her face. It lit up her face whenever she smiled like that almost as though seeing him made everything better to her. That's how it felt for him whenever he saw her but it seemed almost too much to hope for sometimes that Gwen felt the same way in return. That she felt just as thrilled by him as she made him feel. Peter smiled up at his girlfriend slipping his hands up the tops of her thighs to rest on her hips. He noticed she was using his chest as a brace to hover over him. It didn't hurt and it wasn't hard to breathe or to manage her weight with her on top of him it was just funny to him in a way. Without a word Gwen leaned over to kiss him again but properly this time since he could participate this time. He didn't complain about it at all when she leaned on his chest if this was the result.

"Good morning to you too." Peter smiled. "What are you so happy about?"

"I'm not allowed to be a in a good mood?" Gwen challenged with a smile.

"That's not what I was saying." Peter took the bait. "You just seem rather giddy this morning and I was curious as to why."

"Well," she drawled grinning. "Last night was incredible, I slept amazingly, and I got wake up beside you without the looking threat of some parental unit like my mom or your aunt looking for us either. It was nice to enjoy it, to _really_ enjoy it for once."

"I know what you mean." Peter agreed. "I woke..." he took a quick glance at the clock. "A couple of hours ago thinking the same thing."

Peter kissed her again rolling over so she was pinned to the bed by his body weight. Gwen giggled as she mock complained to him about how unfair it was because he weighed far more than she did and that she didn't have superpowers to help get him off of her. She was cut off mid-rant by Peter's lips covering hers. She giggled into the kiss before she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly pulling him to her firmly or even firmer than he already was.

"We should get up, get food." Gwen pointed out to him.

"Mm-hmm, we should." Peter agreed busying himself with kissing her neck. "Mm, food, right."

"Should get up. Start our day." Gwen caught his roaming fingers. "Right, Bugboy?"

"Mm," he hummed distractedly. "I can't think of a better way to start my day. Can you?"

"Pancakes sound pretty good to me right now." Gwen said seriously. She rolled from underneath Peter. "Come on."

"You serious?" Peter asked her confused. Gwen began walking out of the room. "That's just plain cruel. This could be considered cruel and unusual punishment."

Peter had never felt himself wishing he was wearing his web-shooters so strongly ever before. Instead he jumped out of the bed as she was shrugging on one of the many pilfered shirts she had taken from him. He jumped out of the bed, spun her around, and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pushed her against the nearest vertical surface as he kissed her passionately. Gwen was only momentarily taken off guard by his sudden attack but she quickly recovered kissing him back just as fiercely.

"You're not going anywhere." Peter teased.

"Oh?" Gwen said coyly. "You sure about that?"

"Pretty sure," Peter nodded.

He bent over quickly scoop0ing her up so he could deposit her on the bed before he joined her there. Gwen mock complaint again however this time she was complaining about being unable to do anything she wanted to do in her own apartment. Gwen grinned at Peter in response to the sarcastic look he had shot her in response to her complaining. She just questioningly mouthed 'shut up' to him making him nod with a sarcastic smile painted across his face. Gwen giggled softly as he leaned down to kiss her again.

* * *

Later that morning when they emerged from the bedroom they went into the kitchen to cook breakfast. Peter was pretty sure his stomach was trying to eat his insides he was hungry and it was growling at him as well from what sounded like anger for not being given food sooner. Gwen smiled at him from across the room as she poured some eggs into a frying pan for both of them. She had heard his stomach rumbling all the way across the room.

"Hungry?" Gwen asked teasingly.

"I think my stomach is wondering if I've had my throat cut." Peter shook his head. "Want some?"

Peter had been in the middle of cutting an apple he took from her fridge. Gwen shot him a look over her shoulder to see what he was referring to. She shot him another look for the apple her was holding making him raise his eyebrows in a question.

"Making yourself at home, I see." Gwen raised her own eyebrows at him. "Sure, though, I'll have some."

"Weren't you the one who told me to make myself at home when you first moved in or did I imagine that?" Peter asked teasingly.

He just chuckled softly holding out a piece of the apple he had cut off for her. She didn't even bother with taking it from him before she took a bite out of it making Peter chuckle again. He just continued holding the piece out to her to finish the rest of it off. Peter cut himself another piece of the apple for him to eat as Gwen busied herself making omelets for the both of them. After a few more minutes Gwen asked Peter if he could get the microwave bacon from the freezer to cook it for both of them. Peter popped the bacon into the microwave cooking it before he tossed it onto the plates she had already set out on the table for both of them. A minute after he was finished with the bacon Gwen dropped the eggs down onto the plates as well. Both plates were sitting on the table against the wall in the kitchen. They sat down on either side to eat.

"Do you have to work today?" Peter asked after a few minutes of silent eating.

"Nope," Gwen shook her head. "I have the whole day off. Got any plans for today? Do you have to work today?"

"Nope." Peter shook his head. "Peter doesn't have to work unless something big happens involving Spider-Man tonight?"

"Since when do you refer to yourself in the third person?" Gwen teased. Peter opened his mouth and then he closed it right away. "So, then what are we doing today?"

"Well, I don't know about you," Peter smiled. "But I planned to spend the whole day with my girlfriend. What do you think?"

"I don't know." Gwen shrugged. "since I don't have a girlfriend. I would – however – like to spend the whole day with my boyfriend instead. So, here's a better question; what do you want to do today? Movie, sit around, or something else?"

"Hadn't thought much beyond who I wanted to spend the day with." Peter grinned at his girlfriend. "How about we go see a new movie and then get something to eat afterwards. We could have dinner on the clock tower together."

Gwen nodded in agreement with him and his plan for the day. After breakfast they kicked around for a little while just talking with one another as they got ready. Peter got dressed in some of his pilfered clothing she was collecting because they were nicer than they spare clothes he had brought with him. Every once and a while she gave him back his clothes freshly washed usually because they had lost his scent. It was around that time a different set of his clothes randomly disappeared from his closet and dresser. Peter had thought it would drive him nuts after a while but it really hadn't bothered him. He hadn't minded all that much she stole his clothes. So, he figured the clothes he had worn the day before he wouldn't get them back for a while. Gwen usually wore his clothes to bed or around her apartment when she had no place she needed to go.

Once they were dressed they looked through the latest listings for the movies playing to pick out one they both wanted to see. They went to see the movie, then they picked up some food from a little Italian place not far from the movie theater, and he took them up to the clock tower to eat. Peter knew it was one of Gwen's favorite places. The whole city was spread out beneath their feet. They could see everything but no one would really be able to see them and it wasn't many other people who would get the chance to really be able to see the city this way. This perspective of New York was completely their own. He knew he personally had a thing for stuff like that, the one of a kind type of stuff, or the different perspectives other people miss. It was one of the reasons she went web slinging with him in the first place. Otherwise he was pretty sure she would never have come with him. He chuckled softly at the memory of the night before all hell broke loose.

"Out the window?" Gwen asked incredulously. "Did the giant mutant lizard whack you on the head? Do you have a concussion? Maybe my dad was right and you do need psychiatric attention!"

"What's wrong with the window?" Peter asked. "It's not like I'm asking you to jump out of the window. I'll be with you, trust me my web-shooters will work and hold both of us without any problem."

"I don't doubt your ability to make functioning web-shooters." Gwen said sarcastically. "And I don't doubt you're ability to catch me or not drop me but I still think you're insane for even suggesting it! This is crazy!"

"Aw, come on. What's wrong with crazy?" Peter grinned. "How many other people get to see New York like this? It's amazing. I wouldn't ask or suggest it if I thought there was even the slightest chance of danger to you or me or to anyone else for that matter."

"How many other people get an opportunity like this?" Gwen asked rhetorically.

"Only one, if you count me." Peter teased. "Come on, I'd never let anything happen to you."

"Then let's go." Gwen decided.

"Really?" Peter asked smiling.

Gwen nodded as Peter went out onto the fire escape. Once he was outside Gwen followed after she grabbed her jacket from her closer. She was shaking her head as she went outside. Peter was too happy that she agreed to come with him to even think about anything else at the moment.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Gwen said.

"Going swinging through New York?" Peter asked curiously.

"No," Gwen shook her head. "Breaking my parents' strict curfew. I never break their rules. None of us ever do."

Peter shook his head as he pursed his lips as he shot his girlfriend a look. Gwen just giggled wrapping her arms around Peter's neck. He felt so much better than he had when he walked into her bedroom before. Of course, then his wounds had been bleeding, and he had just come from fighting a giant mutant lizard. He wrapped one arm around her waist pulling her up with him as he stepped up onto the railing of the fire escape. He used the other arm to shoot a web so they could swing away.

"So, where are we going Bugboy?" Gwen asked.

"Wherever we want." Peter answered simply. "All of New York is just a quick swing away. The whole city is at our fingertips."

Peter remembered he had let himself and Gwen fall a few stories before he used the webbing to begin gliding through the city. He could feel Gwen clutching him tightly but she didn't scream as they fell. Instead she had taken in all the sights surrounding them as well as the falling sensation it provided. Peter smiled warmly at her as they arched through the city. She had smiled excitedly as they went. She enjoyed herself as he swung them through the city. There was no one else Peter would ever want to share this experience with. Her reaction to it was amazing in itself. She didn't get scared or scream. She just let herself enjoy it. She trusted him completely to keep her safe so she could focus on everything else around her instead.

Peter could feel a smile playing on his lips again just thinking about that night again. Now she didn't take any time to get used to the strange falling sensation. Now it was just normal to her whenever she came with him just as it was normal to him to be swinging through the city on a web. He loved taking her with him because he could share it with someone, her especially because he knew she would appreciate it. Peter couldn't begin to describe what it was like, so having her experience it with him, he could share it with her, and she could just see it first hand. She would just understand it the same way he did. She would understand why he liked swinging around so much. It provided him with freedom. No one could tell him what to do up here. He wasn't hurting anyone and he was having a great time. The webbing would decompose eventually anyway so it wasn't like someone had to go clean them up. Although, Peter did wonder who they could hire to clean up the giant spider webs hanging from the tallest buildings in New York.

After Peter dropped Gwen back at her apartment he decided to patrol but he promised to be back to her apartment if he finished early enough. Peter dropped by his own apartment to drop off his backpack. He changed into his Spider-Man suit leaving his regular clothes as he planned to come back to grab more of his usual clothes before he returned to Gwen. He pulled his cell phone police scanner from his bag before he returned to the city. He perched himself on the top of a building listening to his scanner. The whole night was rather quiet until he heard of a huge fire two blocks away. The firemen sounded overwhelmed from what the police were saying. The police were clearing the street and surrounding buildings of people to protect them from the flames. Peter took a deep breath, this would be a long night. He swung off of the building two blocks away to the building that was across the one engulfed in flames.

Perched atop a building across from the one on fire he could see everything that was going wrong. The whole building was almost completely engulfed. He wasn't sure it would be stable much longer or long enough for the firefighters to get everyone out in time. From what he was hearing below him and on his make shift scanner the fire had spread so rapidly there was an entire family trapped on the third floor. Peter was also pretty sure the building on the left of the one on fire was going to be the next to catch fire if it kept at this pace.

The firefighters were doing their best to contain the fire to keep it from setting another building on fire. They were also trying to get in to get to the trapped family on the third floor of the building. Meanwhile, the police were setting up barriers to cut accesses to the street off. As well as evacuating the surrounding buildings of as many tenets as they possibly could. Peter could see it was a rather well thought out plan except the people inside the building were going to be killed, they had to be suffocating in a building like that right now. All of the oxygen had to be burning up right now. There wasn't much the firefighters could do right now. They were having trouble getting into the building. It was far too hot for them and their entryway was blocked. Plus no matter how much water they were hitting the fire with it didn't seem to matter or even make much of a difference.

Peter tucked the scanner in a web and left it on the roof before he spun another web to swing across the street. He got to the other building, he stuck to the side of the wall, and climbed up towards a window so he could kick out the glass and propel himself inside. He vaguely heard the shouting of the firefighters not to go in there because it was too hot but he ignored them. It was too hot for them but not for him. Peter found he could withstand more temperatures than most people. Hotter conditions made no difference to him nor did cooler ones. After a while they would begin to get to him but Peter didn't think he was going to spend three days inside of a burning building so he wouldn't have to worry about it.

He soon found the floor of the building was practically ready to collapse at any moment if someone looked at it funny. Peter moved carefully across the floor listening for people making any kind of noise in the building. He heard sounds coming from a room down the hall. Peter moved quickly and carefully across the floor to other side to the door. Flames licked along the walls, the wood of the house crackled, it splintered and broke, and it sounded ready to fall. Once Peter got to the door he saw the door was stuck, it was so hot the hinges were falling apart. They held the door firmly in place while Peter hoped everyone was alright inside. He stepped back and kicked the door. He sensed no danger in breaking the door open. The minute his foot collided with the thick solid wood of the door it snapped off the broken heated hinges with ease.

Inside people screamed until they saw Spider-Man walk into the room waving them forward. The family jumped up from where they had been cowering. It was a mother, a father, and two small children. The mother and father had been pulling their children underneath them to protect them from any falling debris. Peter could see part of the roof in the room had caved in. The ceiling was sitting on the floor in the other corner of the room. Peter had instructed them to pick up their children to follow him out of the room. Peter had them wait there for a moment while he planned an escape route for them. The minute Peter turned to look back into the hallway the floor collapsed completely. He saw the floor of the hallway drop through the next few floors, literally. Peter's eyebrows went up as he saw just how weal this structure really was with that quick demonstration.

"Great," Peter mumbled. "Walking out of the building is out of the question now, isn't it?"

For a moment Peter wasn't sure quite how to escape from the building before he looked down at the gaping hole in the floor. Down on the bottom floor it let straight to the front door of the whole apartment building. The fire had been somewhat dulled by the constant water the firefighters were dousing the front entrance to the building with. Most of the firefighters who had been trying to get into the building when the floor collapsed were forced to jump out of the way when it almost landed on top of them. Peter glanced back at the terrified family quickly making up his mind in the process.

"Come over here!" Peter waved the family forward. "Come on! Quickly!"

The family quickly made their way over to him looking scared out of their minds. Peter could see it in their eyes and as it was it rolled off of them in waves. He took a deep breath knowing he needed to stay calm for this family or they would really start to panic thinking they were going to die. Right now he was there only hope. The firefighters were in no way going to get up here fast enough to help in any fashion. Peter took a deep breath before he spoke.

"I'm going to lower you down." Peter explained. "Two at a time, okay?"

Peter used his webbing on the mother first because her husband kept insisting she go first with one of their children. Peter carefully lowered them both to the ground yelling for them to run out the door the moment their feet touched solid ground, or semi-solid ground. He then lowered the father and the last child to ground carefully making sure they were safe before he released his webbing. Once they were on the floor and out of his sight he had to roll out of the way when the rest of the ceiling almost came crashing down. This place was getting rather dangerous to be inside of. Since those were supposed to be the only people left in the building he was about to leave when he heard something else inside the building. He looked up in time to see someone crashing through the 5th floor down to him. Peter spun a huge web in the hole in the ceiling above him to catch the guy who was falling.

The web gently moved up and down as the person crashed down on top of it, it stretched but it didn't break as it held the weight. Peter reached up pulling the webbing down to grab the person who was just a teenager who looked scared of what was going to happen. He felt bad for the teenager, this had to be frightening for him but he didn't have time to worry about it. He didn't even know if there was anyone else left in the building and it was ready to come crashing down on top of them. Peter didn't bother to wait as he jumped down through the holes in the floor shooting a web about his head to what was left of the ceiling to slow his fall to the first floor of the building. Peter let go of the web, covered the teen's head, and rolled out of the way of the ceiling he had pulled down by accident. He rolled over the teen's body so he was protecting the kid's body with his own to keep him from getting hit by any falling debris. Peter looked down at the teen who was shaking in his arms completely terrified beyond belief at what was going on. Peter helped the teen to his feet looking in his eyes though no one could really tell.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked. The kid nodded. "Just hold on, okay? Was there anyone else up there?"

"No," the kid shook his head. "I was home alone, my parents went out for dinner together."

Peter nodded pulling the teen onto his back to hold him in an easier fashion, it allowed him the ability to use both of his arms. A beam fell down in front of the door blocking their exit. Peter shot a web at a window by the door completely ripping the window and its frame out of the wall when he pulled on it. The glass shattered as it hit the floor but it didn't matter to Peter and he doubted it was going to matter much to anyone else. He could see and hear the walls beginning to give way; the whole building was going to come down, and they needed to go now. Peter jumped out the window with the teen clutching his back.

They weren't outside ten seconds before they were mobbed by the teen's parents hugging him. Peter handed the kid over as he turned back to look at the building. People raced back as the building just collapsed like it had given up trying to stand defiantly against the fire. The whole building just disappeared from view into a pile of rubble. He really hoped no one else was trapped inside when the whole building went down. He sighed realizing the building he had thought the fire would spread to first had caught on fire as well. Peter knew that building was completely empty of people since the police had already taken care of it. The firefighters continued dousing both buildings with as much water as they possible could to put it out.

Peter nodded to the family of the teen who kept thanking him and to the other family he had saved. But he wondered what had caused the fire in the first place. It had spread so fast through the building and then to the one beside it. The fire had burned so quickly and spread so quickly it was almost like the building had been doused in gasoline. Peter shrugged as he jumped back up to his perch on the building across the street. He grabbed the scanner he had left there. It didn't really matter very much to him because the police and the fire department would figure out the why both buildings had burned so quickly. Peter already involved himself far too much into police and fire department business maybe it was just best if he left the investigation to the professionals. Peter checked the time on his make shift police scanner. It was five in the morning, he'd been out all night, the sun was going to rise soon enough. He felt a yawn sneak up on him as he thought about how tired he really was. It had been a long night.

He turned around heading to the other side of the building so he could jump off. Peter went right to his apartment to find three messages from Gwen and two missed phone calls. Peter's eyes widened as he realized he had completely forgotten he had left his cell phone in his backpack which he had left behind when he went to patrol. He hadn't planned to be out so late, and he hadn't realized he had left his cell phone in his bag. Gwen left him a voicemail on one of her phone calls to him which he quickly checked.

"Hey," she started as calmly as possibly but he could tell there was more behind it, she was nervous. "The GPS in your phone says you're at home but I just saw on the news about the fire, there were Spider-Man sightings. Are you alright? I haven't heard from you and I don't where you are right now. I need to know you're okay and not burning alive or something, call me, no matter what time it is." She paused for a moment. "I love you, Bugboy."

Peter quickly dialed her number so he could let his girlfriend know he was still breathing and not a marshmallow in a flaming house. "Hey, I'm okay."

"Why didn't you have your phone?" She asked sounding wide awake. "You scared the crap out of me."

"I'm sorry." Peter bit his lip. "I didn't mean to worry you. I left my phone in my backpack here because I didn't think I'd be out this late patrolling the city. Then there was a huge fire that spread so rapidly the firefighters couldn't slow it down. I'm so sorry."

"Don't do that to me." Gwen demanded. "I was watching the news and I saw the fire. Then they mentioned Spider-Man had been seen going in but no one had seen him come back out because the press was pushed back. So, I checked my phone and it said you were at your apartment but once you didn't answer your cell so I could ask you what was going on I realized you didn't have your phone with you. For all I knew you could've been stuck in that building burning alive."

"Hey, it's okay." Peter said softly. "I'm okay. I was in and out without any major problems, I swear. I am, however, extremely tired."

"I suppose you're not coming back over?" Gwen asked carefully.

"No, sorry." Peter was shaking his head even though she couldn't see. "I have to be at my aunt's in a couple hours anyway. I promised to do some repairs so it will be easier to just go from here to get to her house. I'll see you later tomorrow. Okay?"

"Sure," Gwen agreed. She seemed less nervous now that she knew he was okay. "Get some sleep, Bugboy. Tell your aunt I said hi and I'll see you afterwards."

"Okay," Peter agreed. "Oh, and Gwen?"

"Yes, Bugboy?" Gwen answered.

"I love you too." Peter smiled.

Peter heard Gwen giggle quietly before they said their good nights to one another and hung up their phones to go to bed to get some sleep after a very long night. Peter didn't even bother changing much further than to get out of his Spider-Man suit which he promptly threw into the closet tossing his backpack on top to hide it just in case. Then he collapsed onto his bed, dragged his blankets over his head, set the alarm as a last thought, and dropped his face into his pillow instantly beginning to snore.

* * *

The following morning Peter went over to his aunt's house because he had promised to fix up some of the broken things around the house so she wouldn't have to hire someone to do it for her. He felt like a zombie on his way over because he hadn't been able to sleep for very long that night. He hadn't gotten home until after five in the morning, he didn't gall asleep until closer to six once he had been home, and he had to be at his aunt's by eleven. He woke up far too early to get ready but he didn't want to sleep anymore just in case he may over sleep on his aunt. Once he was ready he was out of the apartment without bothering to eat because he had forgotten. His stomach was growling angrily at him as he jogged down the sidewalk to his aunt's house. He made it to the front yard and up to the porch before he was interrupted.

"Hey Tiger," Mary Jane called. Peter almost jumped out of his skin. "Where are you off to in such a rush?"

"Late," Peter explained. "Helping my aunt out around the house today and I'm very late, as usual."

"Something tells me your aunt won't mind very much as long as you show up." Mary Jane smiled. "Are you alright? You don't look like yourself this morning. Something is off about you."

"Didn't sleep well last night." Peter said softly. "I'm very tired. What are you up to today? Looks like you're headed somewhere."

"I'm surprised you don't know." Mary Jane folded her arms across her chest with a teasing smile. "After all I'm headed out with _your _girlfriend. She called me this morning asking if I was doing anything today and if I wanted to go out shopping. So, like I said I'm surprised you didn't know since you and Gwen tell each other everything."

"Very funny," Peter shook his head. "Have fun. I'm going to go now."

"You're no fun." Mary Jane teased. "I could always tell her about the time you-"

"Don't tell her any stories!" Peter pleaded. "Please, just don't tell her any kind of stories whatsoever."

"Aw, come on, that's really no fun." Mary Jane said teasingly. She grinned as a thought popped into her head making Peter cringe. "Just like when you-"

"None!" Peter decreed. "Tell her nothing."

"We'll see." Mary Jane said vaguely. "I'll talk to you later, Tiger. Have fun working on whatever today. Try not to blow anything up while you're at it. Bye, bye."

Mary Jane waved as she walked down the stairs to her porch over to her motorcycle sitting in the front year. Mary Jane had moved out of her house finally to an apartment one block from his own. It was a small crappy apartment much like his own but it was away from her parents and it was hers. She visited her mother all the time but he hadn't been expecting to see her there which was why he had almost jumped out of his skin when she said hi to him. Now she parked her motorcycle in front of the house, Peter thought it looked like an escape route just in case she needed to make a quick getaway. Peter waved to her as she started her motorcycle up and took off onto the street. Peter shook his head at the wonder of his own girlfriend since Mary Jane was off to meet up with her for shopping. Peter had barely been able to function this morning after such little sleep but his girlfriend managed to be up before him and even make plans with a friend for a day of what was sure to be a long shopping trip between them. She would never cease to amaze him. He turned to enter his aunt's house when he felt a prickle along the edges of his senses like danger was near but there was no immanent threat to him. Peter turned his head back to Mary Jane's porch.

"Parker," a man slurred and grumbled.

"Mr. Watson," Peter said stiffly. His hand clenched on the front doorknob.

"Remembering to mind your own business?" Mary Jane's father asked. "Keeping your nose where it belongs?"

"Never," Peter answered stoically. "I've got to go."

Peter opened the door to go into the house ignoring the stare he was getting from the man on the other porch: Phil Watson, Mary Jane's father. He was nothing more than a dead beat. Today he was dressed in wife beater, a dirty wife beater, and old jeans with holes all over them. He was barefoot and holding a beer in his hand. He was also wearing a scowl on his face as soon as he saw Peter. Peter was pretty sure he had a knack for ticking off fathers. It had been over the summer when Mary Jane had been getting ready to move out of this house into her own apartment. Peter had yet to move out of his aunt's house but he offered his help to Mary Jane with moving at the very beginning of the summer. Mary Jane had been very grateful for the help from what he could tell but she would never admit she needed or wanted help from anyone.

Peter had pulled on a sweatshirt as he walked out of his house, jogged down the stairs, and over to Mary Jane who was standing next to a rented U-haul truck.

"Oh, good." She smiled happily. "Think you can figure out the best way to pack the back so I can carry everything all in one trip in the truck?"

"I can try." Peter promised. "I'll do my best."

Peter went around to the back of the truck and jumped inside. He took one look at the way she'd packed everything in the back so far and began to rearrange everything so it fit together like a giant puzzle. He worked alone for a few minutes before Mary Jane came back to ask him what else he would need. Peter just asked what else she had left so he knew how he was going to organize everything in the truck. She quickly went through what was left for him. Once everything was outside in the front yard Peter and Mary Jane began loading it inside with Peter directing where everything would need to go. Peter was inside the truck when he heard the front door slam loudly and angry yelling.

"Hey!" Phil yelled gruffly. "You know I don't like people making noise when I'm trying to sleep! What do you think: Just because you're moving out you don't have to do what I say?! This is my house and when you're in my house you'll follow my rules!"

"I told you I was moving out today." Mary Jane snapped. "You had plenty of warning. Maybe you shouldn't have been up so late last night drinking with your buddies until you passed out!"

Phil raised his hand to hit his daughter but before his hand could make contact with her face he was stopped. Peter held the older man's wrist in a vice grip as he stared the older man down. For the first time since Peter and Phil had met there wasn't any fear or hesitation in Peter's stare. He was staring the man down with everything he had. This time was different, there was something different about Peter Parker.

"It's not nice to hit a woman." Peter said evenly. "Didn't anyone teach you manners?"

"Didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to butt in where you don't belong?" Phil asked irritatedly. "This is a family matter."

"Happening in a public setting." Peter said thinly. He tightened his grip fractionally. "I've always wanted to know what kind of man would dare to hit his own children, never mind his daughter."

"Since when did you grow a spine?" Phil spat out. "Besides, you talk about manners but you aren't respecting your elders, are you boy?"

"Respect is earned, not given based upon age." Peter said evenly. "And I personally have absolutely no respect for any man who would dare to raise a hand to a woman." Peter tightened his grip again causing the man before him to wince in pain. "I have no tolerance for it at all."

Peter tightened his grip again until Phil was almost keeling over in pain. Then Peter released him finally. Phil grumbled something neither of them could hear as he walked off back into the house with one last glare tossed past Peter to Mary Jane. But Phil didn't do anything with Peter standing between him and Mary Jane. He wouldn't dare. Guys like Phil Watson are only brave or strong or tough in any fashion when they're picking on someone smaller than them, weaker than them, or when someone is yelling at them. They almost never take on someone who could level or tip the scale into their favor.

"i think I have to ask." Mary Jane began a little shocked. "When did you grow a spine? I've never seen you stand up to anyone before."

"I don't know," Peter answered. "Guess I found one."

"Well, thanks, Tiger." Mary Jane smiled. "For sticking up for me with my dad just now. Normally, I fend for myself."

"Everyone needs help sometimes." Peter shrugged. "It was nothing."

Mary Jane and Peter turned at the sound of a car pulling up beside them, it was a long limo. Harry stepped out of the limo in nice dressy but dressed down clothing that made him look more like he was ready to go jogging then to help them move. Somehow Harry made dressing down to help someone move look stylish and very, very expensive.

"Hey," Harry smiled. "Sorry, I'm late my dad called to check in after he landed in some other country on some business trip. He wouldn't leave me along so I could get going to meet you guys here. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Mary Jane shrugged. "You didn't miss much and you're here before Gwen is anyway."

"Where's she?" Harry asked. "I thought you said she's never late."

"She isn't." Peter shrugged. "Her youngest brother got sick this morning after they dropped him off at camp. Gwen had to go pick him up from camp because her mother can't leave work until 12."

"So she called and said she'd help unload." Mary Jane finished. "She's going to meet us at the apartment instead."

"Oh," Harry nodded. "Okay, so how can I help?"

"Help us finish loading up the truck." Mary Jane pointed to the stuff sitting by the end of the truck. "Then we can get going. It should only be about one load."

"Okay," Harry nodded.

After that they finished loading the truck. Mary Jane's father didn't poke his head out even once to say another word to any of them. But Peter could literally feel him staring at him from somewhere inside the house. Peter was used to seeing a lot of different kinds of scum because of his extra curricular activities but Phil Watson was something else entirely. He hurt the people closet to him just because he could. He hit his daughter. He hit his wife. He was rude to everyone he ever met. He was a low life and he was a terrible person as far as Peter was concerned. Phil Watson was a horrible person and he was happy Mary Jane was far, far away from that poisonous house. Peter shook his head walking further into the house to find his aunt in the kitchen making herself a sandwich. Aunt May smiled knowingly as she walked into the room. Peter smiled right back at his aunt. She held the sandwich on a plate out to him.

"Want something to eat?" Aunt May asked knowingly. "I heard you coming and I thought you might be hungry."

"Starved," Peter let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Peter took the sandwich from her and saw it was composed of all of his favorites. He smiled as she handed him the mustard which he as he kissed her on the cheek as thanks for the sandwich. Peter sat down at the small table in the kitchen. There was a large bag of chips sitting on the table so he poured some onto his plate feeling his stomach growling in hunger again. He was starving and the smell of the food was making him even more hungry than he was before. Once his sandwich was made and he had a pile of chips on his plate he dug into the food wolfing half of it down in a matter of minutes. Once he had  
something in his stomach he was able to slow down as his aunt joined him at the table with her sandwich. The pain of his hunger started to subside with some food resting in his stomach. Now he was able to enjoy his pile of food on his place because he wasn't so focused on getting something into his stomach so it would stop trying to gnaw on his insides.

As he was eating he kept glancing over at his aunt. Despite the smile across her face he could see a sadness lingering behind her eyes. He knew she must really miss Uncle Ben. They had been together since they were teenagers in high school together. He knew it had to be hard for her to be without her best friend and confidant. Uncle Ben was the person she told everything to, whether it was good news, bad news, or anything they just wanted to share with another and vice versa for his uncle. His parents had been the some way as well in telling each other absolutely everything. Even Peter was the same way, there wasn't anything he didn't think he couldn't tell Gwen. He knew he could tell her the worst of himself and know she'd still love him despite it. For example Peter had told her the truth about his uncle's murder, how he didn't stop the criminal when he had the chance. He had also told her about his vendetta to find the man who killed his uncle afterwards as well as what he had wanted to do to the man had he been able to catch the man. She hadn't even batted an eyelash, instead she just wrapped an arm around his shoulders kissing his forehead gently without saying a word. She was just there with him providing comfort no matter what.

Peter didn't want to know what it was like to be without Gwen. She was his everything. In such a short amount of time she had managed to worm her way into every single facet of his life until he couldn't figure out what he did before she walked into his life. How had he been without her? He hoped she felt the same way about him as well. Peter couldn't imagine losing her. His aunt lost one of the most important people in her life. Peter felt bad for his aunt. He didn't want to even think about what would happen if he lost Gwen. He shook his head as his nightmare popped into his head. Peter could remember watching Gwen plummet to her death and then that awful sound. Peter's jaw clenched and unclenched thinking about it.

He didn't know how his aunt woke up every day. How did she make it through each day without breaking down? Peter wasn't sure he'd have the strength to do that. He sighed taking a deep breath as he glanced at his aunt once more. She must carry so much of the weight all alone now, the weight of the world was resting solely on her shoulders now so to speak. He wished he could help relieve the burden but he really couldn't. He couldn't help her because he can't open up to her the same way he would be asking her to open up to him. That wouldn't be fair to her at all. There was nothing he could do to help her, not really. And he couldn't ask her to carry the burden of his secret. It was bad enough that he asked Gwen to carry it with him. He wouldn't do that to Aunt May, she's been through enough.

His Aunt had been through so much already, he didn't want to add on to her already sizable burden. Her life was more than complicated enough because of losing Uncle Ben. She was under stress to pay bills, to take care of herself, and figuring out how to survive alone when she hasn't been along since she was much younger. Peter finished off his food on his plate before he asked her for what she had for him to do first in the house. Aunt May pointed to the list on the fridge which Peter took looking over it trying to figure out where he should start.

Most of the things on the list were things his Uncle Ben used to fix in the house all the time when he was alive and Peter was growing here. Peter took a deep breath missing his uncle right now. Peter only ever had to fix anything his uncle couldn't figure out how to fix or what was broken. Normally, most of what was on the list was already taken care of by his uncle on a regular basis. Peter sighed trying to get rid of those thoughts so he could focus on fixing what needed to be fixed. Peter grabbed his tools from the cabinet to begin working on the sink. Once he fixed the sink he moved on to the next item the list. His aunt cleaned the kitchen of the plates they had used. After she followed him around asking him about school, work, and of course Gwen. He didn't mind, he liked the company. Peter supposed most people would find the constant hovering and constant strand of questions annoying or irritating but he actually didn't mind it very much. He didn't get the chance to talk much with his aunt anymore and she didn't get to know what was going on in his life much since he moved out so he didn't mind answering whatever questions she had for him.

"How are things with Gwen?" Aunt May asked. "Does she like all of her classes?"

"Things are great with Gwen." Peter smiled unconsciously as he thought about his girlfriend. "She loves her classes and all of her professors as well. She's doing great in school which is no surprise. She's hard at work at Oscorp just as she always is."

"You really care about her, don't you?" Aunt May asked knowingly.

"Uh, uh, I uh..." Peter stammered.

"Problem?" His aunt teased. "Why is it you always get tongue tied whenever I ask you how you feel about Gwen Stacy?"

"I don't know," Peter shrugged. "I don't like talking about my feelings for Gwen with anyone but her, I guess. She's the only one who really needs to know how I feel about her. So, I guess, it's weird trying to talk to someone else. I'm sorry-"

"As long as she knows." Aunt May smiled. "I guess that all that matters, Peter."

Peter returned to his work patching up the house. A door was sticking. The sink hadn't been working properly. His bathroom toilet was making strange noise. Part of the doorjamb was coming apart. The floor board in the living room was coming loose again. Peter quickly made it through the list for his aunt who asked if he wanted to stay for dinner as she was making meatloaf. Peter agreed to stay and asked if she even wanted to watch a movie afterwards which his aunt agreed to.

Peter stayed for a few hours catching up with his aunt about recent events that have happened in his life. He told her about his new classes and how things were going at the _Daily Bugle_ with selling them Spider-Man photos. His aunt showed him the draw full of newspapers all with photos Peter had sold to the newspaper of Spider-Man. She'd also framed his first one as well which was hanging up in the living room. Peter also noticed she had added new pictures to her collection on the fridge. There were two new pictures both of which were of Peter and Gwen together. One of them was of them dressed in their graduation caps and gowns. Gwen and Peter were wrapped in each other's arms smiling for the cameras. The other picture was a candid shot Peter hadn't even known his aunt had taken. It was of the two of them sitting on the couch together watching a movie late one night. Gwen was a curled up on his right with her feet up on the couch as she leaned on Peter's chest. Peter had his arm wrapped around her waist. Both of them had a blanket over both of them. Gwen looked comfortable on top of him almost like she had been ready to fall asleep. While Peter on the other hand seemed to just be gently stroking her back as he was completely absorbed in whatever they had been watching together.

All in all there were two good pictures of them together. They looked so happy together and fit well beside the other pictures pinned there. The fridge seemed to act like a giant scrapbook for his aunt. Anything important to her ended up somewhere on that fridge. Just so she would never forget anything important to her.

Peter went home but only to collect his suit and scanner before he took to the rooftops again to patrol the city. He listened to the police scanner on the top of some building he always sits on whenever he was patrolling. He was there for quite a while since the city seemed relatively quiet. The police were able to handle anything that comes up rendering him somewhat useless tonight, not that he minded very much because he was for too tired to be too much help tonight. He had been on the roof for an hour when he got a phone call from Gwen.

"Hey," Peter answered. "What's up?"

"Nothing serious," Gwen answered. "I was just calling to check in on how your day went. Did you get everything done at your aunt's house?"

"Yes," Peter nodded. "I stayed for dinner after I finished everything as well. So, how was your day?"

"Good," Gwen said happily. "I spent the day hanging out with MJ. We went shopping and then we went out for dinner together. It was a last minute sort of thing."

"Oh, I know." Peter said softly.

"How?" Gwen asked confused. "Aside from really, really, early this morning I haven't talked to you today."

"I saw Mary Jane here earlier." Peter shrugged. "She was visiting with her mother, I think. She told me you'd called her to see if she wanted to go out shopping together. Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine." Gwen said softly. "She just didn't say she had seen you earlier today, that's all. Although, she may have been a little preoccupied trying to decipher Harry's recent strange behavior and trying so hard not to get her hopes up in any way when I told her he had feelings for her."

"What strange behavior?" Peter asked curiously. "It's Harry, he's always acting strange."

"Good point," Gwen agreed. "But I mean he's acting goofy around her. He's not as smooth whenever he asks her to do something with him. The nervous babbling goofy all guys seem to get at some point in their lives when around females."

"Ah, that goofy." Peter chuckled. "I know he has feelings for her but he never lets anyone get close to him. When people get close they can hurt him and Harry doesn't like being vulnerable."

"Sounds like they're perfect for each other." Gwen said softly. "Now if only they could see that."

"Might save Harry some giggling." Peter chuckled. "And Mary Jane some confusion."

"Doubtful," Gwen pointed out. "I doubt they're going to see it any time soon. They'll probably drag it out just to annoy everyone and each other."

"That's probably true." Peter agreed.

"So, what are you doing now, Bugboy?" Gwen asked curiously. "I hear wind. Are you on a roof or something?"

"Yes," Peter looked over the edge. "Once I left my Aunt's I decided to go patrolling."

"Uh huh," Gwen said softly. "Now I know you couldn't have gotten much sleep last night since you had to be at your aunt's rather early this morning and I know what time you got in last night. Why didn't you go home and go to bed? You need sleep, Bugboy."

"I'm fine." Peter shrugged. Although he did feel on overwhelming urge to yawn suddenly over take him. "I got enough sleep."

"Uh huh, sure, Bugboy." Gwen answered sarcastically. "You'll be of no use to anyone if you're falling asleep while you try to save people. I told you that before when you ended up falling asleep on my fire escape when you were babysitting my family and me. It doesn't matter if you have all the power in the world if you're too tired to use any of it. Go home, Bugboy. Get some sleep."

"Is that an order?" Peter asked teasingly.

"Yes," Gwen said firmly. "Go home, get changed, and get into bed to get some sleep, Bugboy. That is an order."

"Okay," Peter chuckled. "Okay, I'll go home and try to get some rest."

The scanner attached to the cell phone buzzed about a robbery only a block away from where he was perched. The nearest police station wouldn't be able to catch the thief because they're too far away. Getting some sleep was going to have to wait one thief, hopefully Gwen would let that one slide.

"Right after I catch this guy first." Peter said quickly.

"Peter," Gwen began warningly.

"Love you!" Peter shouted into the phone. He heard her return the sentiment before he cut whatever else she was going to say off by hanging up the phone on her. "Payback for hanging up on me."

Peter chuckled softly jumping over the side of the building. He got there just in time to see a thief come running out of a little store holding a bag full of cash. Peter shot a web at the man stopping him as he tried running down the street. He pulled the man back with the web causing him to fall over. The people on the street stopped getting out of the way as the man groped for a gun in his jacket. As the man pulled the gun out Peter webbed his hand to the sidewalk before he webbed the rest of him to sidewalk as well to keep him from moving. Peter jumped down to the man hearing the wail of the police sirens coming down the street. The man looked angry and terrified at the same time.

"Enjoy prison." Peter waved. "And tell the officers who arrest you Spider-Man says hi. I think I've met those guys before. See ya!"

Peter spun another web swinging up to the top of the building to watch the guy get arrested but mostly because he knew where the officers were coming from. They were from Captain Stacy's precinct or his former precinct. As they jumped out of the car he recognized several of them. He had beaten most of them up when Captain Stacy arrested him. Those were the men who had been with Captain Stacy when they tried to arrest him. He watched them handcuff the man after they pulled him free from the webbing. Once the man was tucked away in the back of the car he swung off the building once more. He swung past all the officers with a small wave.

He went back to his apartment sending Gwen a text he was home and going straight to bed after he changed. She sent him a message teasing him about hanging up on her before. Peter just chuckled grabbing some leftover pizza from the fridge as a snack as he changed. He sent Gwen another message saying goodnight, he'd see her tomorrow, and that he loved her. Gwen sent him a message back saying she loved him too.

Peter crawled into bed listening to music from his laptop to drown out the sounds of people yelling at each other below him outside his window. He pulled the blanket over him as he closed his eyes trying to get some sleep. For a while he kept rolling over trying to get comfortable in his bed. It was only a full size bed but it felt far too large without Gwen taking up half of it, if not more. He may not have spent a lot of time at her place but she spent at least two nights a week here. He had started getting used to sharing his bed constantly with someone else. He missed rolling over and wrapping his arms around her. He missed her pulling on the sheets because he had taken too much of them. He missed having no space to lay on his side of the bed. Peter sighed, if it wasn't one problem it was another with him. He sighed rolling over burying his face in her pillow. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**A.N. I know this story is starting off a little slow but it'll pick up. I promise! Hope you all enjoyed it! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. Enjoy the show! :)**

* * *

Four

As for Gwen her life had fallen into a routine over the last few months. Over the summer she worked at Oscorp, she spent time with her family, he went on vacation, and she spent as much time as possible with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who continued to save New York City on a regular basis, whom she also continued to provide medical support for, and help to protect the city.

She also helped Peter continue looking into his parents' past to understand why they had left Peter in the first place. While both of them kept watch over both of their shoulders just in case Oscorp decides to try and find Spider-Man to study him. Oscorp hadn't made a move on him yet as Dr. Connors had suggested they might, but they weren't planning to take chances. Gwen is rather sure the argument she heard her boss having with Norman Osborn before the summer began had something to do with whatever happened to Peter's parents. She didn't know what about it that bothered her so much but she trusted her instincts, they hadn't stared her wrong yet, and she didn't think it would now. Although, their search had begun to fizzle out with Norman Osborn's disappearance to another country for the last few months they were still trying to look under every rock they could turn over.

In the meantime, however, they had found a routine together over the summer. She had thoroughly enjoyed her vacation over the summer. Her mother insisted on as much normalcy as possible for them, so she insisted they take a vacation to a little house they own on the water like they do every year. This year was different for more than just the obvious reasons because her father didn't come with them this summer. Her mother instead asked them if there was anyone they wanted to bring with them. Howard brought his girlfriend with them. Phillip and Simon declined to bring anyone because they didn't want so many people on a family vacation. Gwen brought Peter with them and her mother asked May Parker to join them as well. The two of them had become good friends. Her youngest brothers didn't seem to mind Peter or Howard's girlfriend very much, in fact both of them seemed thrilled to have them along. The vacation provided a good escape from the world and reality in general. Plus for a few weeks she didn't have any added stress because she wasn't worried about Peter patrolling. He hadn't even brought the suit with him on the trip. She had watched him lock the suit up and leave it under his bed before they left. It was the first time since they had been together she never had to be concerned for his safely beyond that of any normal girlfriend.

She remembered it had been so strange knowing there wasn't anything that was going to kill him or hurt him. She knew at any moment she could basically just walk to find him, she didn't need the GPS on her phone to find him. Gwen didn't mind the life she was choosing to lead, she didn't mind having a superhero boyfriend, and she didn't mind constantly worrying for him but the vacation had been nice. It was a break from all of that and she knew Peter had enjoyed himself as well because he didn't have to go running off at every single siren.

Gwen also knew her brothers enjoyed having Peter around whenever they went off to play sports or go out to do something physical they had a fourth with as much energy as they had. Peter had no qualms about jumping in with them while Gwen stayed behind with the other women which was also nice because there were more than just her and her mother now. They weren't outnumbered anymore. Gwen found it was rather nice to just sit with other women and talk while they watched the children playing and tackling one another. They all always looked like they were having a great time.

Then once they returned Gwen finished with her packing and began moving into her new apartment. It wasn't far from Oscorp or from school, it was somewhere in between both of them. She wasn't too far from Peter but she also wasn't a hop, skip, and a jump away from him either. Neither of them minded the commute to one another or to any place they had to be. Gwen didn't mind making her way to Peter's since around the time she usually went over there was either no traffic or Peter brought her there or she just decided to walk there for some exercise. She ended up staying there more than once a week because for the most part she just hadn't felt like going back home and Peter never minded the company. Peter's place was nice enough to stay at once and a while anyway. Peter had taken to calling it a dump but Gwen thought it was a dump before he had moved in but once he had he really managed to turn it into a nice place to live.

Peter moved into his apartment around the same time she had moved out as well and into her own apartment. She had seen the apartment before Peter had taken it over. It was beginning to fall apart, in fact, it did fall apart once or twice while he began piecing it back together. But Peter had done his best to fix it up during the month of August. So, every time she stayed there something was slightly different or had been repaired since the last time she was there. Peter added the lock he had for his bedroom to the front door at his apartment. He also made a few changes to it in order to make it lock his deadbolt instead. He repaired the kitchen, the bathroom, and various other aspects to the apartment. Peter even gave it a fresh coat of paint, something she had helped with on a Saturday during the summer in the month he was there. As always with the two of them things didn't go quite as planned but then again nothing in their lives ever really does anyway so maybe in a way it had gone according to plan. It was supposed to be a nice simple project they had planned to do together, neither of them understood how it managed to become so much more in such a short amount of time.

"What color did you get?" Gwen asked.

She was sitting on one of the few seats he had in the apartment looking at the paint cans he had sitting against the wall by the front door. All of the windows in his apartment were open as wide as they could go. The bedroom door was open because they had just gotten back from the store and Peter was setting up. He had placed a box fan in the window of his bedroom blowing air into the apartment and he was pushing another box fan into the window as well except this was blowing out. He shoved the window open as it stuck because of the heat. It was over 90 degrees in New York. So, Peter was trying to cool it off in his apartment. Peter was wearing a tight black tank top and an old pair of jeans that had several stains on them as well as holes. She had dressed in old clothes as well since she figured she was bound to get paint on herself at some point today. Peter shoved the box fan where it belonged in the window and yanked down on the window to keep it in place. He flipped the fan on before he turned to her.

"Blue," Peter answered. "I got a shade of blue."

"Are we painting all the rooms?" Gwen asked looking around. "Or the bedroom?"

"This room and the bedroom." Peter pointed. "The kitchen was just painted by the landlord so it doesn't need a coat right now, but maybe I'll repaint it later anyway. Just in case."

"Okay," Gwen nodded. "Let's get started."

They moved the furniture out of the way so they could spread out the tarps on the floor to catch any paint they might drip. After Peter poured paint into a pan and put together a couple of rollers for each of them to use. They worked and talked for a while before Peter had a different idea.

"Want to listen to some music?" Peter asked. "I like listening to music when I work."

"Sure," Gwen agreed easily. She liked music when she worked too. "Got anything good?"

Peter smiled secretively as he went over to his laptop which was hook to some speakers. He opened his laptop and flipped through a few different things until he found what he was looking for. Music began playing through the smaller speakers into the apartment, they didn't sound very good or clear. They were more like on the go kind of speakers.

"What's with the frown?" Peter asked. "Bad song?"

"No," Gwen shook her head. "Not that. I'm just confused by the speakers you're using. You love listening to music, I'm surprised you'd choose to listen to music on such low level speakers."

"Oh, that." Peter smiled. He walked over to a small table they'd moved, picking up a wire sitting on top of it, and went over to his laptop. He paused the music, shut off the small speakers, unplugged the wire from those speakers, and plugged the other wire in instead. "Okay, do these sound better?" Peter started the music again. "These are the speakers I normally use. I just finished hooking them up last night, you just didn't give me a chance to plug them in."

Gwen took a look around the room at the wireless speakers sitting on the shelves he must have made for them to sit on around in the room. She couldn't believe she had mussed those. The only wire was from the control speaker and the sub-woofer to the wall and computer. There were several speakers around the living room along with the sub-woofer sitting on the floor. She also noted the speakers in the kitchen and a couple in the bedroom as well. She smiled shaking her head at her boyfriend once more before she resumed her work.

The whole thing was going rather well as they managed to get through all of the living room and most of his bedroom before they had a problem. He was painting one wall while she painted the other. The other two were already complete and in the process of drying. She moved the roller over to paint on her left at the top of the wall and when she pulled it away to get more paint she accidentally hit Peter's arm as he moved to paint a different section of the wall on his side of things. Gwen covered her mouth to keep from laughing as she saw the smear of blue on Peter's arm. While Peter stopped what he was doing to turn and look at his girlfriend as he pursed his lips at his girlfriend. He didn't seem to be as amused by the situation as she was by the blue smear across his arm.

"Thanks," Peter said sarcastically. "I needed that."

"What?" Gwen said innocently. "You look good in blue. It's a good color on you, Bugboy."

"I don't need it painted on me." Peter shook his head. "I'd rather just wear it."

"You are wearing it." Gwen pointed out dryly. "It's on you so you are wearing it, technically. It looks good on you, you should wear paint on your arm more often."

"I meant wear it like on a shirt." Peter shrugged. "I didn't mean on my arm at all."

"Okay," Gwen turned with the roller. "I can paint your shirt for you if that's what you really want but I like the black, but okay."

"Don't come near me with that." Peter jumped back as she moved closer with the roller.

"I thought you wanted you shirt painted." Gwen grinned teasingly. "Will you make up your mind, Bugboy? I can paint it easily for you just stand still. Okay?"

"You're not funny." Peter shook his head.

"It's a little funny." Gwen said softly.

Gwen went to move the roller out of the way to put it down for a moment at the same time Peter moved closer. She ended up swiping the roller across his torso completely covering him in blue paint. Peter stopped short looking up at his girlfriend as he took a deep breath. Gwen looked sheepish but was still trying very hard to contain her laughter while Peter still had the same unamused look on his face.

"Oops," Gwen said softly. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Peter nodded shortly. "But I need a hug. Come here."

Gwen shook her head as Peter moved closer to her holding his arms out towards her. She backed away dropping the roller to the cloth on the floor. Peter followed her still holding his arms out wanting a hug from his girlfriend although it was one she didn't really want. She backed away until she had a clear chance to run through the door into the rest of the apartment. However, she should've know she wouldn't be able to escape from him. Before she even made it out the door Peter stepped into her way blocking her path and her escape route. He smiled at her making her sure there was something devious running through his mind which put her on the defensive against him.

"Peter," she said warily. He was moving closer inch by inch. "It was an accident. You know I wasn't really going to cover you in paint."

"Then you won't mind a hug." Peter smiled. "Or a kiss? Please."

Gwen kept moving back into the room as Peter mover ever closer. She could see he was blocking the only exit she had while also trying to pin her into a corner. She wasn't quite sure how she could possibly escape from this trap he had placed her inside of. Gwen could tell exactly what he was doing. He had a better position than she did against him. Peter controlled the room at the moment. He could move forward to force her back because she didn't want a hug but she could only move back, moving toward him would bring her where she didn't want to go. So, she could only move back inching to the side to at least try to get around him until of course she ran out of room which was likely to happen at any moment now.

"What?" Peter asked innocently. "You don't want a hug or a kiss from your boyfriend? I don't bite."

"No, but you will cover me in paint." Gwen motioned to his chest. "And I'd appreciate if it you didn't."

"I'd have appreciated it as well." Peter raised an eyebrow. "But instead you managed to cover me in paint instead. I'm only returning the favor of covered you in paint, wouldn't you agree?"

"Peter," Gwen said warningly.

Peter began closing in on her again. Gwen tried ducking underneath his arm in order to get away but his reflexes were much quicker than her own and she was caught. She could feel his warm firm body pressing forwards into her as he wrapped his arms around her torso. He chuckled into her ear as she sighed feeling defeated. She felt the paint soak into her clothes but she didn't care anymore, they were old clothes meant to be destroyed anyway, and it's why she wore them to paint in the first place. It had just been more fun trying to get away from Peter when he was chasing after her. Peter tightened his hold lifting her off the ground easily to tease her more as he did so. Peter kissed her cheek gently.

"Have you had your fun now, Mr. Parker?" Gwen spoke in bored tone. "May we get back to work now?"

Peter didn't respond as he turned her around in his arms without putting her back on the floor so he could kiss her instead. Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck feeling his arms settle around her waist comfortably like they belonged there. After a minute or two she could feel one of his hands sliding beneath her shirt. Gwen pulled away from him shaking her head back and forth with a small grin on her face.

"We have work to do, Bugboy." Gwen stated with a quirk of her eyebrow. "Unless you'd like to just leave two walls half done so they don't match the others anymore."

"It would definitely make it a unique paint job." Peter teased. "Let's take a break."

"Something tells me this would be more than just a break." Gwen pointed out. "This usually isn't a short thing with us."

"We can finish any time." Peter pointed out.

His hands kept moving on her slipping beneath her shirt as he tried to completely push it out of his way as he tried to get to the skin beneath. Gwen shook her head trying to get her mind back where it belonged and out of the gutter as well as far from it as possible. She moved to step away because proximity was a problem at the moment for both of them but it was made difficult because he was still holding her up in the air keeping her from just walking away from him to really be able to clear her head.

"Bugboy," Gwen whispered somewhat sternly. "Stop that."

Peter had ducked his head so he could kiss her neck refusing to let her go even an inch. She was starting to think he was just hoping she would run out of excuses or forget about it and just agree with him instead. She gently nudged at his chest to get his attention. On cue his head snapped up to look at her with a puzzled expression on his face. Gwen always knew she wouldn't ever have a problem when it came to saying no to him, if she even nudged his chest he stopped almost instantly. He would never do anything he thought might make her even in the slightest bit uncomfortable. Something Gwen found truly appreciating, plus Peter was pretty at good at discerning when she was being absolutely serious or when she was just teasing him. Right now she must have sounded serious to him.

"We need to finish painting." Gwen smiled softly. "Later, I promise."

For a moment she thought he was going to argue with her but instead he just gently set her down on the ground letting her stand on her own two feet. He looked like she had taken his favorite toy and kicked his puppy. She moved to pick up the roller but before she could Peter spun her around so fast she would've fallen over if he hadn't caught her. Gwen opened her mouth to say something be he locked her into a searing kiss. Which knocked every thought and whatever she had been about to say right out of her head. Instead her mind plummeted straight into the gutter next to Peter's mind.

"Still want to get back to work?" Peter asked when the broke apart.

"No," Gwen said definitively.

This time she pulled him into a searing kiss as they wrapped themselves around one another. Peter moved to pull back to make a joke but she cut him off before he could make any kind of wise comment.

"Shut up," Gwen demanded.

"Peter just grinned as she stole what he uses on her when she talks too much when they should both be occupied with other things. He pulled her even closer as he lowered both of them to the floor. The bed was not only occupied by what he had in his bedroom which they stacked on the bed to get it out of the way but it was too far away in their minds. It would take too long to clean off. Here worked. Here was perfect.

A few hours later the two of them were laying in the middle of the bedroom floor together. Peter was on his back looking up at the ceiling while Gwen was resting on her stomach playing with his hand as she did so. The music was still playing but it was softer now than it had been before. They had one of the blankets from the bed draped over them while another rested below them as well to put something between them and the hard floor. Peter had put the paint away so it wouldn't dry out. The apartment wasn't as hot as it had been before since the sun had set. The dull whir of the fans and the sounds of the city were all that could be heard in the apartment now. After a few more minutes Peter turned to Gwen so he was laying on his side now. He smiled softly at her as he did so. She returned the smile rolling onto her side as well. He wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Told you it wouldn't be a short break." Gwen teased. "And we're still not done yet. Those two walls still need to be finished."

"We'll get to them." Peter smiled. "It was worth it."

Without another word he kissed her, effectively stopping the entire conversation for the rest of the night. Gwen remembered they never finished the walls that night, well, she hadn't finished them at least. They spent the night on the floor together for the most part instead. She slept rather well that night after she finally fell asleep but Peter on the other hand didn't sleep very much from what she could gather the next morning. After she had fallen asleep Peter briefly moved her into the living room, finished painting, moved his bedroom back, returned her to the bedroom in the bed instead, and left to patrol the city something he hadn't been able to do since they had been otherwise occupied. She guessed she had been on the couch at one point because a blanket and a pillow were there the following morning. Gwen had never even woken up so confused in her entire life that morning.

She had jumped because she had fallen asleep on the hard floor with only Peter to use as a pillow of any kind. Now she was in a soft comfortable bed with Peter right next to her taking up a sizable chunk of the bed. Gwen didn't mind, she had gotten used to Peter's body beside her when she slept now. In, fact, the bed always seemed rather lonely without Peter's lanky form crowding her when she slept. She supposed most people would be relieved to be without someone hogging the bed but she found herself missing him when the warm lanky form was gone.

Gwen remembered looking around the room confused by seeing the completed blue walls and everything returned to its former positions in the room. She couldn't remember for the life of her when any of this happened because she hadn't helped with any of it. Gwen remembered the very pleasurable interruption they had but not the finishing of their work. She looked over at Peter who was dead to the world for the time being. He looked so tired that she wondered how late he had been up finishing the room and whatever else he had been up to. She got up out of bed to walk over to the closet where something just didn't look right. The compartment Peter had installed in the back to hide his suit inside when he wasn't using it but it looked like it was still open an inch or so. Gwen slide the door shut the rest of the way hearing the lock click into place. Peter had door locked with a lock he designed so that only the two of them could open it.

Gwen then proceeded into the kitchen to make them both something eat. She rummaged through his cabinets and brought Peter breakfast in bed that morning. Gwen took a deep breath thinking about that morning when she had been listening to the news when she heard about a robbery prevented by Spider-Man that night. She rolled her eyes unsurprised that despite everything he had still gone out to patrol after everything he did the night before. No wonder why he had looked so tired when she looked at him that morning, she remembered thinking. And here I thought it had been me who wore him out. Gwen snickered happily to herself as she thought about that night, it had been rather incredible. Although any time she was with Peter it was always incredible in her opinion.

She supposed that considering all she had been through in this last year over the summer it had been rather quiet or uneventful. No crazed super powered villains trying to kill her or her family or her boyfriend so it had been a nice few months. Just normal crime in the city as it always is. Well, sort of, since Peter stopped the Lizard and Electro from destroying the city most criminals don't seem to want to try and take him on. They've all seemed to have lessened their criminal activities in the city. Apparently, Peter had been right that night at dinner when he said that Spider-Man was trying to do something the police can't. As far as she could tell the crime rate in New York was at an all time low. It wasn't completely gone but it was never going to be completely gone. People are always going to try and do something illegal. All Peter and the police can do is lessen it, catch the bad guys once they've done something wrong, and try to maintain order. Something Peter was rather good at doing since most criminals were too afraid to try and take on Spider-Man.

"Did I lose your attention, honey?" Her mother asked teasingly. "I suppose your mind wandered off? To a certain brown eyed boy, perhaps?"

"Sorry, mom." Gwen said guilty. "I was just thinking about when Peter and I painted his apartment."

"Ah," her mother nodded. She eyed her daughter for a moment. "Are you sure? Because it didn't look like you were thinking about painting to me. I don't know about you but painting anything has never brought a smile like that to my face."

"Mom!" Gwen shouted looking down. A faint blush spread across her face. "Don't!"

"At least I know I'm right now." Her mother grinned triumphantly. Gwen blushed even further than she did before. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's perfectly normal."

"Not to discuss with my mother." Gwen shook her head. "Please stop."

"Are you being safe?" Her mother asked seriously.

"Am I talking to a wall?" Gwen retorted. "Yes mom, we are. Can we please, please let it go now and never speak of it again? Please?"

"What's the fun in that?" Her mother teased. "Why are you so embarrassed?"

"Because you're my mother!" Gwen shouted. "What child wants to discuss their sex life with their mother? It's weird and uncomfortable. Can we please, please let it go now?"

"Okay," her mother said softly. "Okay, but I do have one more question."

Gwen shot her mother a look conveying her wonder at what else her mother could possibly want to to know now. Gwen braced herself for something creepy and/or disturbing. Some kind of question that would render her completely unable to look her mother in the eye again. Gwen took a deep breath holding it as she waited for her mother to ask her dreaded question.

"I reserve the right now to answer." Gwen stipulated.

"Okay," her mother smiled softly. "If we continue a conversation on a different topic I won't lose your mind to the gutter again, will I?"

"No mom," Gwen shook her head. "Don't worry I'll keep my mind from falling into the gutter again. So, what were we talking about anyway? When I got lost?"

"Maybe we should choose a more interesting topic to help keep you attention on the conversation." Her mother teased. "Why don't you tell me ow things are going with Peter anyway?"

"They're good, mom." Gwen smiled softly. Something her mother loved watching as Gwen told her how things were with her and Peter. "They're very good."

As Gwen started to tell her about her relationship her mother couldn't help but notice the smile spreading across her daughter's face. Gwen always looked so happy when she talked about or was with Peter. Something her daughter had needed after they lost George. Her daughter had seemed so broken and so lost with any direction after her father passed away. Then Peter returned and Gwen seemed normal again, she smiled, and laughed but now she wasn't going through the motions she really meant it. She was living her life and enjoying every moment of it. Peter had done that, he made her daughter so happy through all the darkness they had been cast into this year. Helen was grateful to Peter for returning her daughter to her. She supposed in some ways she should be angry with Peter or even disappointed in her daughter because Peter hadn't shown up to the funeral. Her daughter never explained why Peter hadn't shown up to the funeral. Helen knew that Gwen had been looking for him throughout the entire funeral. But her daughter had gotten back together with Peter not much later so she figured that she would trust her daughter. She trusted that her daughter had a good reason for taking Peter back after whatever happened between them. Her daughter was no pushover, she was too much like her father, and Peter wouldn't have stood a chance if he didn't deserve one. So, Helen was grateful to him instead for putting the most beautiful smile on Gwen's face. The one that lights up the whole room.

She would never tell her daughter this but Peter reminded her of a younger version of her late husband. He had been the same way when she met him all those years ago when they were still in college together. She knew that despite the disagreement that first night Peter had made an impression on George, not that he would admit it but he liked Peter or respected him at the very least. Peter had the guts to go toe to toe with Captain George Stacy and stand his ground. Peter hadn't backed down from the challenge instead he fought back. She remembered him muttering about Peter and Spider-Man when he came home that night and was getting ready for bed. She knew her husband wouldn't admit this either but he was afraid of Peter as well.

For the first time he saw he had real chance that his eldest child, his only daughter, his baby girl, and the one he had completely fallen to mush over when he held her for the first time might have another important man in her life. Gwen had her father wrapped around her little fingers the moment he set eyes on her. Gwen could do no wrong in her father's eyes and she had definitely been daddy's little girl. Whenever she had been scared when she was little she ran to her father. He was her protector. Her hero. Her entire world. Then she got older. They had assumed she would've started dating sooner and she never did. Instead she seemed so invested in school she couldn't see much of anything else beyond that. Helen had to admit she was waiting for her daughter to discover the opposite sex and her father was relieved when she never did or didn't for the longest time. Then a year ago she did discover boys and Peter was the one who managed to get her daughter's attention. A feat she was beginning to believe impossible. And then they could both see how important this boy was beginning to be. Gwen never volunteered information usually someone would ask but once she got started that was it, she was gone. She would get a happy glazed look across her face as she talked about him. Someone only had to mention his name and she would grin. And for a girl who normally took everything that her father said rather seriously she didn't seemed fazed in the slightest by her father's disagreement with her daughter being anywhere near Peter Parker. Even with a ten foot pole or something to that effect. Gwen just shrugged it off almost like she knew something they didn't.

Of course, Helen Stacy had told her husband that Gwen would know more about Peter than they did, it was a given. She was his girlfriend, Peter was of course going to confide more to Gwen than them and of course Gwen would keep whatever it was from them in return. Their daughter would never break someone's trust in her. She had never minded Peter with her daughter because she trusted her daughter's choice in boyfriend and in people in general. She advised her husband to do the same and he gave it a rest for a little while until Peter had come ranting and raving about Dr. Connors being the giant mutant lizard terrorizing the city. Her husband thought him a loon and it turned out he had been right the whole time. Go figure. Maybe there was more to this teen than either of them first thought.

Gwen and Peter's relationship reminded her of how she used to be with George when they first met and their relationship when it was new and fresh to them. She remembered being so happy all the time. Although, the more she thinks about it the more she realized that those feelings have never really gone away. Helen had always felt that way about her husband no matter how long they had been together. A thrill had always shot through her whenever she thought, saw, or was with him. She saw all of those things reflected in her daughter and her boyfriend. They were completely crazy about each other. It was always written across their faces whenever she saw them together. They had those lovestruck looks on their faces. Matching lovestruck looks on their faces to boot. Helen had to admit they were a cute couple together. And she was glad her daughter was with a nice polite young man.

"Is Peter enjoying his classes?" Her mother asked. "What's he taking at Empire State University?"

"Yes, he is enjoying his classes." Gwen nodded. "He's taking some photography classes as well as some science classes."

"So, he is taking some kind of science classes." Her mother said softly. "Does he have any with you?"

"Yes," Gwen nodded. "He has two of his classes with me. Both are his science classes that he has."

"Doesn't he work too?" Her mother asked curiously. "How does he manage to find time to sleep or eat or anything? Wouldn't that be a double major?"

"It is a double major." Gwen said with a short nod. "He works at the _Daily Bugle_ taking photos of Spider-Man. For that he just hands out on his roof, Spider-Man always seemed to be around him. He'll eat and sleep after that, I guess. He's managed to find some way to make it work. Don't ask me his organization system. I'm not sure he has much of one."

"He just makes it work?" She asked rhetorically. "Sounds impressive and very tiring all at the same time. He doing well in all of his classes?"

"Always," Gwen answered simply. "He's good at school, not that he'd show he cares much about it."

"Well good. I'm glad he's doing well." Her mother said softly. "So, where are we going to go for dinner? Your brothers are out at baseball tonight. Howard is taking them out afterwards for something to eat so it's just us tonight. What do you want to get to eat?"

Gwen enjoyed just spending time with her mother that night because she didn't get to do that very often. She enjoyed spending time with her mother even if she did insist on asking her embarrassing questions about her more intimate relationship with Peter. She loved hanging out with her mother despite most teens hating to spend time with their parents. Her mom didn't treat her like some little kid she treated her like a friend instead of like a daughter or a child. Maybe it was weird to look at her mother more like friend than a mother but Gwen liked it in most cases. Frankly, she could do without it in some aspects of her life like with her very personal, private portion of her relationship with Peter. She'd rather she never discuss that with her mother. Ever.

However, she did enjoy talking to her mother about anything else, any other topic was fine. Even talking about her job. Her mother may not understand what she's saying when she talks about her job but she always listened to whatever Gwen was telling her about. Gwen did her best to explain but it was still difficult to understand. But never once did her mother not ask her not to tell her about what she did at work during the day. Her mother never seemed to mind when she on and on either, she just kept listening, always. And in a family this big it was nice to have her mother's attention at 100% sometimes because there weren't any interruptions by her brothers or anyone else. They could just talk about anything for as long as they wanted.

Sometimes it was nice to just sit and talk with her mother. After dinner with her mother she returned to her apartment. It was empty. The lights were off and it was relatively cool because she hadn't turned the heat when she left for the day. She locked the door behind her. She had been half expecting to find Peter there already waiting for her when she got home. She sighed dropping her keys on the table beside the door. She dropped her purse beside the door as well and went further into the room. She pulled her coat off hanging it on the wall behind the door before she reached into the right coat pocket for her cell phone. When she tried to turn it on so could check her messages but she quickly found it was dead. Gwen sighed retrieving her charger from her bedroom so she could plug it in, in the living room instead. Once that was done she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. After her phone had enough life to at least turn on she found a message from Peter on her phone waiting for her. It was from about an hour beforehand. She looked out the window at the dark sky now resting over the city that wasn't bothered by the night falling. Gwen called her voice mail so she could listen to Peter's message.

"Hey," he began. "Hey, I know you're hanging out with your mom right now but I wanted to leave you a message. Won't be able to make it over there tonight. I have a meeting with Jameson at the _Bugle_ tomorrow morning and a crime spree seems to have broken out. I'm so sorry." Sirens broke out in the background. "I hope everything went well with your visit with your mother. I'll call you later and you can fill me in. That's not good. Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?! Okay, one problem down 89 more to go. I love you, that's not a good noise. I have to go through, I'm sorry! Bye!"

Gwen heard one final 'uh-oh' from her boyfriend before the called ended. She hung up her phone placing it on the coffee table. She grabbed the remote from the table to turn on the TV and to flip to the news. Once on the news station they were already talking about Spider-Man.

"Maybe they were testing him." A newscaster suggested. "It you're just joining us it seems Spider-Man has been getting quite the work out tonight. Crime has hit an all time high tonight but it seems Spider-Man has put a stop to them and flexing some muscle all at the same time."

"That's right." The other newscaster agreed. " Spider-Man has been showing that he isn't someone to be trifled with. He has been outdoing himself tonight to stop the overflowing criminals that the police are having trouble keeping up with tonight. He has been all across the city and back tonight as crime has broken out every which way but Spider-Man seemed to just answer the call. How much has he done tonight alone?"

"He stopped three convenience store robberies." The first newscaster began. "He stopped seven muggings, a bank robbery, saved three people from a burning building, two kids from playing in the street, and many more too numerous to name."

"He's been very busy tonight." The second mused. "Doesn't this person ever wish to just take a break from it all?"

"He doesn't seem human at all." The first said. "Maybe he isn't. But he has made something very clear tonight."

"Yes, he has." The second agreed. "He doesn't seem to stand very well for crime in this city and he refuses to let anyone try to overrun it. It's safe to say New York has its own personal hero."

Gwen shook her head at the TV gently. They could possible be just figuring that out. No, they were sort of right, Perter wasn't just saying he wouldn't stand for any crime in this city he was saying this city belonged to him, and no one had any right to mess with it. She smiled softly, no peter wouldn't be able to make it tonight, he was far too busy defending the city. Instead she just went over to the bathroom to shower and change. Once she was in her pajamas she moved her phone back into her bedroom with her. She crawled into bed with a book she had gotten a few days before that she hadn't had time to begin reading yet. Gwen was in bed for a while making it through a good portion of her book before her phone rang. She recognized one of her favorite songs as her ring-tone Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute. She grinned answering her phone without bothering to look at the name, she already knew who she had set the ring-tone for, and it was only for one person in particular.

"I see you found a break during saving the say to call your girlfriend." Gwen teased. "I feel honored."

"Here I was calling my girlfriend to talk," Peter teased. "And I get harassed instead. Isn't that nice? I appreciate it."

"Well," Gwen smiled. "Someone has to keep you from getting a big head."

"No chance of that happening with you around." Peter teased. "Right?"

"Then I guess I've done a good job." Gwen said softly, jokingly. "What's that noise? Are you still outside? Are you on a roof or something."

"I'm sitting on a roof." Peter explained. "How was your day with your mother? Did you have a good time?"

"Yes, I did." Gwen smiled. "I had a wonderful time with my mother today except for the one tiny problem of her prying into our sex life, it was great." There was nothing but silence from the other end. "Are you there, Bugboy? Bugboy? Peter? Are you there, Peter? Hello?"

Gwen pulled back to look at the phone to see if she'd lost him but the phone call was still going on so she knew she hadn't lost him or accidentally hung up on him. She returned the phone to her car but there was still silence. After a few moments there was a noise. Gwen wondered what was going on her with her crazy boyfriend now.

"You heard me say I'm on the top of a building right?" Peter asked. "I'm sitting on the edge here and if I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to kill me by shocking me into falling off."

"You have your web-shooters." Gwen pointed out. "You'll be fine. Besides, if a giant mutant lizard and Electro couldn't kill you I doubt a little shock will."

"Why was your mother prying into our sex life?" Peter asked curiously. "How does something like that even come up?"

"My mind sort of drifted off at one point." Gwen began guiltily. "It seems she recognized the look on my face when my mind ended up in the gutter. Then she kept poking around the subject afterwards."

"I'm never going to be able to look you mother in the eye again." Peter said. She could almost see him shaking his mask covered head back and forth. "Well, aside from permanent embarrassment was the rest of your day good?"

"Yes, but I see you've been busy." Gwen smiled. "It's all over the news how busy Spider-Man has been running across the city to protect it from all of the crime. Everyone is rather impressed by your saving of the city tonight. New York's very own hero, Spider-Man!"

"It seemed they tried to overrun the city." Peter said softly.

"But Spider-Man wouldn't let that happen." Gwen said teasingly. "So, did you fall off the building, Bugboy? Should I call someone to scrap you off the street?"

"Not yet, but thank you." Peter teased. "I think."

"Well, good I'm glad you didn't plummet to your death." Gwen grinned. "I have no use for a flattened boyfriend believe me."

"Oh no?" He asked curiously. "Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure." She said happily. "So, aside from your busy night saving New York what else have you been up to today? Did you get the chance to see Harry today? I thought you were going to hang out with him today."

"I was." There was a brief pause. She heard a web-shooter vaguely in the background. "But he canceled on me at the last might. He said something unexpected came up and he had to take care of it right now. He wouldn't tell me what was going on or what he had to take care of. At first I thought he may have canceled so he could see Mary Jane but she called me a few hours ago wondering if I'd kept Harry from meeting with her to go riding. She hasn't talked to him all day and he won't answer his phone."

"That's strange. Why would he stand Mary Jane up?" Gwen asked confused. "He blew both of you off but he only called to let _you_ know. Why would he do that to Mary Jane? Especially considering how he feels about her."

"I have no idea." Peter answered. "I called him as well but he's not taking my calls either. It's almost like he's fallen off the face of the Earth."

"That's strange." Gwen said softly.

"No," Peter said knowingly, expectantly. "No, that's Harry. This happened sometimes when we were younger, Harry would fall off the grid like he had completely disappeared from the world. Then he would magically reappear with some kind of explanation for his absence. He does this, it's noting new."

"You sounded mildly surprised before." Gwen frowned. "What was that?"

"I'm surprised he hadn't said anything to Mary Jane." Peter explained. "He called me to cancel but not her. It's not like him to not bother to cancel. He's usually pretty good about making sure he hasn't left someone hanging. Whatever is going on must have been rather urgent if he forgot her."

"You don't think Norman Osborn has...?" Gwen let the sentence trail off, leaving it hanging between them.

Both of them knew what she was getting at though. They were wondering if Harry was urgently called away because of Norman Osborn's death. What if he had actually died? What if Harry was going to visit him on his deathbed or something to that affect?

"I don't know. I don't know." Peter said. "He may have. But I don't know. Not even the public knows he's sick. How would we find out whether of not he actually...?"

"I wish I knew." Gwen said softly. "Ever feel like our lives have become one huge unanswered question?"

"Tell me about it." Peter joked. More web-shooters in the background.

"What are you doing, Bugboy?" Gwen asked. "I hear wind. And now I hear sirens. Are you being chased by the police again?"

"No, I'm following a car thief and so are the police." Peter explained. "Whoa, hey, it's not nice to point guns at people! They may go off and someone could get hurt! There we go. Sorry, the guy was trying to shoot the police and then me."

"Should I call back later?" Gwen asked. "Sounds like you're very busy."

"Nope, it's fine." Peter said happily. "I don't mind. You're a nice distraction from everything going on. It reminds me that not everyone in this city is brutally violent for no reason. So, fill me in: What else did the two of you talk about over dinner?"

Gwen proceeded to talk about her dinner with her mother with Peter while he continued to protect the city. Every once and a while she could hear him stopping some criminal. She supposed it was rather amusing when you thought about it to be talking with her boyfriend while he protected the city swinging on webs like a spider or Tarzan. It was almost too strange for her brain to wrap itself around. Peter was swinging through the city helping the police out while she laid in bed with a book in her lap staring out the window. Gwen wondered if she was looking for Peter swinging through the city. Hoping he might just happen to swing by her window without realizing it. Gwen wondered how often she actually did that now, how often she spent looking up at the tops of the buildings looking for her boyfriend. Knowing he would never drift far from the top of the building if it meant he was looking over her and her family. Gwen remembered when she was younger she spent a good portion of her time looking around for police officers because her father knew all of them as far as she was concerned when she was younger. She always felt safe in their presence because it always felt like her father always had a police officer around them to protect. Gwen never knew if it was true but she supposed when she was younger it was a comforting thought to think no matter where she went her father was watching over her. Now, she supposed she never paid attention to the police officers around her instead she was always too busy looking for a certain red and blue spandex figure swinging through the city.

She kept talking to Peter until he made it back to his apartment later on that night. It was rather late when he finally made it home. Peter didn't seem interested in hanging up on their phone call but she insisted because she knew he had a meeting in the morning. So, she insisted on hanging up so he could get some sleep before his meeting. Once she was off the phone with Peter she placed her phone and her book on the table beside her bed flipping out the light as she went as well. She slipped further under the covers pulling the Spider-Man doll Peter had given her closer as she began to dose off.

A smile slowly spread across her face as she slide further into the bed for a moment before she went to the window pulling it open to listen to the sounds of the city below. Once she had the window wide open she crawled back into bed with the only noise she could hear being that of all the cars and people on the streets below her window. Gwen crawled back into bed hugging the Spider-Man doll again. She closed her eyes remembering what she had been thinking about before when she was a little girl. Gwen remembered sometimes after she had gone to bed her father would return to work. She could remember laying in bed listening to the city outside her bedroom window like she was doing now. Gwen remembered straining to listen for police sirens as they raced past outside to wherever they were needed. Those sirens made her feel safe even though they meant something bad was happening somewhere in the city but she felt safe because it meant her father was working to protect the city. And that by the end of the night there would be one less criminal out on the streets.

Of course, Gwen had always felt safe with her father around. She had always thought of him to be a hero, brave, and indestructible. Until she got older and understood that man was mortal, her father could be hurt, or even killed in his line of work. One day he could've walked out of the door and never returned, it was her biggest fear as she got older. To lose her father, her hero, and her protector. He was always there when she needed him, he was always there to catch her when she fell, and he had always protected her. Now whenever she heard the sirens of the police cars blaring outside her window she thought of her father but she didn't feel the same sense of safety anymore. Someone else is running those police cars now, someone else was in charge of the police force now, and it wasn't her father protecting the city anymore so she didn't feel the same sense of security she used to. Now instead she felt a sense of safety wash over her when she heard a thack of webbing from Peter's web-shooters as he swung through the city. Gwen felt a sense of safety when she heard him yelling in joy as he went. But she had felt whenever Spider-Man was around even before she lost her father on the top of Oscorp Tower that night.

Peter had always made her feel safe whenever he was around. Even when her father thought Spider-Man to be a menace she had trusted Peter and that he wasn't a danger. Something about him made her feel safe, made her feel protected, and whole but also that she could trust him. She never understood what it was about Peter that made her feel that way but Gwen embraced it. Maybe that was what she was thinking when she opened the window. She was listening for Peter out there watching over the city even if she knew he was home in his own apartment now. He was still protecting the city. He made her feel safe now. Something she hadn't felt right after she had lost her father. The city was in good hands with Peter watching over it with the new police captain as well but she had felt lost. Gwen felt like there was no one there to catch her if she fell. Her father had promised to always be there whenever she fell. He promised to catch her. After he was gone she thought Peter would be the one to do it, to help her through the loss until she found out about what her father made Peter promise him that night. She had never been so angry with her father, in some ways angry with both of them, but mostly with her father because he had no right to decide who she should spend time with.

Gwen sighed softly as she rolled over in bed still clutching the doll in her arms as she stared at the clock on her night table along with her phone and book. She closed her eyes feeling so much more tired as she began to drift further off to sleep now a smirk still playing on her lips as she fell asleep completely listening to the city around her.

* * *

**A.N. Let me know what you think! Thanks! You guys are awesome readers! **

**Also for anyone from my Jendall story on here to post a comment about why I have not updated: DON'T. In my 99th chapter I posted it would be out after the last episode aired but I never said when I just said it would be. **

**Anyway, for those reading this story for Spider-Man thanks a bunch! :)**


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